A Colorful World
by Craxnor King
Summary: Victory may come from an honest soul. But it is the bonds one makes with others that truly makes it worth saving.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Persona 3.**

Chapter 1

A not so inexperienced Fool

"I'm sorry Minato."

A girl in a place that could only be described as realm beyond space and time stood before a magnificent gate. She was pale in skin and wore what looked to be a dark blue stewardess uniform with five black-lined circles outside small yellow circles. Her face held no flaws but the sadness her amber eyes held at this moment.

In her hand was an unidentifiable power and a worn out piece of paper. The power in her hand was serene and chaotic, as if anxiously waiting to fulfill its purpose and be released. The paper was less than amazing to behold, but just as important.

"I finally found it." She began. "I finally found a way to bring you back, but…"

Her eyes were downtrodden and the realm between everything and nothing became silent again.

"I can't bring you back to your world Minato." She rose her head and tried to appear happy. "But I found a world you can go to."

She went up to the magnificent gate and stood before its patron. The body of a boy no older than 16 years who looked as though he was crucified. His face held no emotion except that of utter conviction. To the world he was their unknown savior, to another he was a lover, but to the woman he was a friend. A friend who she promised would be freed and undertook a great journey and made bonds as strong as life itself to accomplish this.

She placed the great power in his chest that would free him from his restraints. His body, that was as golden as the gate before her, regained its original color. But his eyes did not open and neither did he move. Then she took the contract and placed it against his chest as well. The old paper phased into him and for a second nothing happened.

His body began to rise and glow. Slowly he began to disappear, parts of his body becoming light and fading away, and soon he was no more.

The gate still held in place, she had made sure of that, and would remain until mankind no longer wished for death. But until then the girl would remain and fight off the evils of mankind, she would protect this gate with all of the power she governed, and she would be happy for she saved her friend.

Pass the realm between worlds, Minato was beholden to a choice. This choice would decide not only his future but his actions as well.

 _ **I chooseth this fate of mine own free will**_ **.**

 **Signed: The Fool_**

~ _Break~_

When Minato woke up he wasn't sure what to think.

That he woke up at all was a surprise. He could vaguely remember being giving a choice, but beyond that he had no idea where he was or how he got there. He thought about the Great Seal and the ramifications of his soul no longer guarding Nyx from Erebus. But, oddly enough, he didn't feel any worry or fear.

Maybe Elizabeth had freed him.

It wasn't impossible, he knew that nothing was, for her to have freed him. But where exactly was he.

It seemed to be a forest of some kind. The trees towered above him with their thick branches and leaves blocking most of the sunlight. As he stood up Minato noticed that he was dressed in the same uniform he died in. The Gekkokaun High School uniform still fit him, yet he didn't know if his body aged at all during his time as the Great Seal. As he looked around to get his bearing he noticed the two items at his feet.

The first was a sword and sheathe. A katana to be more accurate. It was simple looking and at first glance had nothing special about it whatsoever. But when picked up they would notice an oddity. The sword felt empty, hungry, wanting as though it wasn't complete. Such was the nature of Nihil weapons, they were meant to be infused with the power Minato wielded to bring out their potential and hold the power legends of long past once held.

The second was an odd looking gun. It didn't seem to hold any ammo because it didn't require any. This wasn't a gun that would release burning metal but one that could summon the latent powers of a persona user into the real world. But without the Dark Hour it was a simple keepsake. A reminder of that year and those he would never forget.

Strapping the sword to his back and putting the gun in his pocket Minato began walking.

While having no idea as to where he was going Minato tried to concentrate. Since arriving here he couldn't access a great many of his persona. He remembered the feeling of their power, the force behind their presence, and their effects on his personality when they were at the forefront of his mind. When trying to access them it was like a damn had been built to block the floodgates of his soul.

Was this the result of his choice? He still couldn't recall what exactly it was, but if he made this choice then he would accept it.

The only persona he could feel was Orpheus. His first Persona came to him and remained. He wasn't sure if this meant that Orpheus would be the only Persona on his journey or if he would have to remake new bonds.

No… Minato wasn't sure about what his purpose was here, in fact he wasn't sure if he would even have one. But he wouldn't forsake the bonds he had made. But this brought up an even more important and dangerous question.

Where in the world was he?

He didn't remember too many forest in Tatsumi Port Island. And this type of tree was foreign to him. The best thing he could do right now was just walk and hope he found something, or someone, that could help him out.

 _~Break~_

He had been walking for what seemed like an hour or two. The sun was still high in the sky so it was at least noon or sometime after. He hadn't found any sign of civilization or people in that time. Minato knew that forest could go on for miles and people could very well get lost within. He also hadn't found any nearby sources of food. No berry bushes, no rivers, and no wild animals to hunt.

It made him think that the survival movies he saw with Akihiko and Junpei made it look easy.

Minato was thinking of climbing one of the trees to get a bearing on his position, were he not interrupted by growling.

He turned and saw what looked to be a dog, but only is shape. It was much, much larger than any dog and much more frightening. Its entire body was black with white claws and armor. For a face it seemed to have a bone white mask with red markings. Minato was reminded of a shadow, and he slowly reached for his sword.

The creature rushed him. A year of combat, ancient memories, and battle instinct saved him. As it lunged at Minato he had ducked and using its own momentum with his own he severed its head in one swipe of the sword.

Turning to get a closer look at the monster he was surprised to see it disintegrating. A horrible, terrible thought surfaced in Minato's mind. From its monstrous appearance and lack of corpse he could only think of one thing.

 _Were these shadows?_

But that didn't make any sense, Minato thought. Shadows only appeared during the Dark Hour. With the lack of a green sky and major headache he could attest that it wasn't the case.

At least not yet.

He had also never seen a shadow like that before. While the creatures could take many forms, in his journey through the tower he had never encountered one so beastlike. Sure many were monstrous and even nightmare inducing, but this creature reminded Minato of a wild animal than a monster.

He was brought out of his reverie by a familiar sound of growling.

Turning around, sword in hand, he saw four more of the creatures. Each looked exactly the same as the one he killed. They slowly encircled him, making him lose sight of the one that went behind him. Orpheus increased his physical ability, usually above that of regular humans, but while he killed the first one easily it had been purely instinct and only against one opponent.

Now he was faced against several of these creatures. Minato guessed that the one he killed was part of their pack which explained their weariness. He placed himself in fighting stance, it was unorthodox with his sword always to the side, but it allowed him comfortable movements with fast timed strikes.

Minato barely had a second before they rushed him. His first reaction was to duck from the one coming straight at him, which was a mistake because while the first swipe missed his head the second creature slammed into his mid-section knocking him down.

The claws had raked his stomach, ripping his uniform in the process, and slicing through his unprotected flesh. The creature jumped onto Minato attempted to latch its teeth on his neck. Pure instinct saved him as a right hook to its face staggered it, he even saw pieces of bone and teeth fall to the ground. While it was stunned Minato thrusted his sword upwards through its stomach. It froze for a second and similar to the first began to disappear.

Minato only had a second as the other two rushed him. They were upon him before he could get up, swinging his sword at the first one he was able to cut of its arm. Unfortunately he wasn't able to stop the second one and it latched its jaws on his sword arm.

Intense pain fired up his arm and it took all of his power not to scream in pain. Minato punched the creature in the head, but no matter how many times he punched it wouldn't let go. He was losing blood fast and he couldn't reach his sword.

A roar behind him got his attention away from the wolf monster attempting to rip his arm off. The one whose arm he cut off was slowly coming towards him limping slightly as it clutched its severed stump.

Minato began punching with more fervor. If the other one got to him he would be done for. Even after breaking a quarter of the mask off it still wouldn't let go. Minato was slowly losing feeling in his arm and becoming much more tired. His clothes were soaked in blood and his wounds weren't showing any signs of stopping.

Was he going to die?

Is this how it ends. Coming back after so long only to be killed by some monsters. Minato was getting tired. His eyes were slowly closing.

" _Call us."_

Minato's eyes widened. It couldn't possibly be…

" _Use it, call us once more."_

Using his free hand he reached into his pocket to pull out the evoker. Without hesitating he placed the cold metal to his head. The familiar feeling blocking the pain allowed him to prepare himself. The other monster was almost on him and Minato pulled the trigger.

"WAIT DON'T!" a voice called out

"Per-so-na."

~ _Break~_

Ruby Rose was having an awesome day.

Not only had she joined Beacon academy two years early, she also got to fight actual Grim on her first day.

The entrance exam had been a little… awkward. But that was because of her bad first impression with Weiss. Ruby was a clutz sometimes, she realized that years ago, but she could fight and even had Crescent Rose, a one of the kind Scyithle (she was so good with names). But after fighting that Nevermore, Ruby was sure everything had landed on the right foot. She and Weiss were even on the same team now.

Even better, her sister Yang was on her team too! Yang was super strong, even better she was like the best sister ever. Even if she could be a little teasing sometimes. And Yang has teamed up with this girl named Blake. Ruby wasn't sure of what to think of her at first, but she was undeniably cool. Her semblance let her make clone images and she has some wickedly cool ninja stuff.

Her team was awesome, so this made her awesome, which mean that they would become awesome Huntresses, which meant she would be the greatest huntress in the world!

They were walking back with the others they teamed up with.

The girl Nora was a bunch of fun, but a little weird, but Ruby saw she could hit like an Ursa and was probably stronger than Yang. Her hammer launcher was tough as heck and even made that death stalker stumble. Ren had some cool SMG blades and acted cool to match. She even saw him use some martial arts too. Pyrrha was something else. She did things Ruby had never seen, Ruby had high esteem of herself, but something told her that Pyrrha was on a whole other level. And Jaune was… Jaune was nice.

They were heading back to the starting point with their chess pieces when they heard growls past some bushes. Ruby was the first to check it out with everyone following in tow. Pushing past the bushes Ruby saw what was making the noise.

Two beowolf's, one missing an arm, were in a small opening in the forest. But what caught everyone's eyes was the second beowolf and who it was on. The beowolf was latched onto his arm and looked to have its mask in pieces but wouldn't let go of the boys arm.

He was soaked in blood.

Ruby rushed forward readying Crescent Rose, she was about to shoot the beowolf until she saw the boy take out a pistol and place it to his head.

"WAIT DON'T!" she screamed, but it was too late.

She heard the gun go off, but instead of a blasting sound and a spray of blood she heard the sound of breaking glass. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a giant harp smashed into the beowolf that was on the boy. The beowolf smashed into a tree and its broken body began to disappear. The one-armed grim rushed forward and was crushed just as fast.

The sudden shock from what just happened faded and Ruby got a good look at what had just saved the boy. It looked like it was made of metal, its body had that shiny exterior. Looking closer it reminded her of a puppet doll, a very large and apparently very dangerous puppet doll. Seeing its face was the real surprise though, while being pitch black and having red eyes it was an exact copy of the boy's face.

The boy who was covered in blood.

Ruby and everyone rushed forward only to see the giant doll raise its harp and strum the strings. Suddenly the boy's body glowed in a warm light. His blood receded back in his body and the wounds he sustained knitted themselves together. His arm which had been mangled and nearly ripped from his body had re-attached itself and looked good as new.

The boy lifted himself up and rubbed his arm as if checking to make sure it was alright. He then turned towards the two groups with a completely calm face and raised his hand in greeting.

"Hello."

~ _Break_ ~

His body felt great.

A rush of adrenaline couldn't compare to the power his persona gave him. While inside his mind he could wield their powers, but never to the actual degree and effectiveness of the originals, but summoning them gave him the rush of energy he had missed. Orpheus had taken care of those monsters as quick as possible, it knew that Minato was losing too much blood and needed to heal him fast.

His head was still spinning a little as he sat up. The surprise attacks had almost costed him his life and if it wasn't for his Persona he would probably be dead. Rubbing his arm, Minato tried to understand how he was able to summon Orpheus in the first place. He wasn't in the Dark Hour but there he was corporal form and all. Minato remembered hearing a voice before he used his evoker and looked to his right.

There were eight of them in total. The one in front was a petite girl dressed in a black skirt and a red hood. Next was another girl in black dressed in a form fitting outfit, one in a, slightly revealing, top and short shorts, and one in a white skirt and appeared to be much more refined. The ones behind them were just as oddly dressed. The first was a pink girl in another form fitting dress, a guy who appeared to be a martial artist, a woman dressed as though she was from ancient Greece, and a boy with armor over casual clothes.

But what really caught his attention were what they were holding. He saw a mechanical scythe that looked like it had a rifle muzzle at the opposite end. A Rapier that had a revolver with colorful canisters instead of bullets. A yellow gauntlet that appeared to have shotgun shells. A Warhammer, two sword and shields, cleaver and katana, and a pair of SMG's that seemed to act as wind and fire blades.

They had gunblades… alright then.

But these were also the first people he's seen since he woke up. So he did what any logical person would do and greeted them.

"Hello." He said as he raised his hand.

Minato barely had a second before the pink one of the groups started hoping all around him.

"That was amazing! What is that!" she pointed to Orpheus. "Is that a semblance, or your weapon? How did your arm get healed! Are you taking the test too? I didn't see you when we started, were you late? Oh what abou-." The martial artist put his hands over the pink girl's mouth stopping her mile a minute mouth.

"Sorry about that," he said, "She can get a little excited."

Minato was about to get up when the girl in the white skirt, or was it a combat skirt, walked up to him scowling.

"What are you doing here?" she started. "I don't remember seeing you this morning or when all of the first years arrived yesterday." She crossed her arms eyeing Orpheus warily. It never occurred that he might be trespassing.

"Hey, hey let's calm down alright." The yellow girl said. "Dude just got mauled by some beowolf's, let's give him some space." She reached down and offered a hand to help him up. He took it and was surprised by her grip, this girl was strong and effortlessly pulled him up. Her eyes started roaming around his body, mainly his arm and chest, and tilted her head to the side. "Heck not even a scratch after that grim was chompin on your arm huh? Must be some pretty handy semblance you got there man."

Minato looked at Orpheus, knowing its purpose was fulfilled and sensing no danger it returned to the Sea of Souls. Everyone stared as the Persona began to disappear in mid-air.

The girl with the red hood came up to him and looked at a mix between angry and relieved. "Are you OK?" she asked.

Minato nodded. Realizing that her voice was the one he heard before summoning Orpheus, she must have thought he was about to kill himself.

He picked up his evoker and brought it so the girl could see it.

"My gun doesn't shoot bullets." He told them. "It allows me to… activate my abilities. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"What kind of ability needs you to shoot yourself to activate?" The boy in the armor asked. "Is that like normal or something or am I the only one finding this weird?" He looked around and noticed everyone's uncertain stares. "So it's not just me, great." He mumbled.

"Hey!" the girl in white yelled. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here and who the heck are you?"

Minato sheathed his sword and put the evoker back in his pocket. He took a second to think very carefully about his words as this could have a wide array of effects. He decided the best course of action would be honesty. And right now they were his best chance to get answers for his situation.

"I'm sorry, but where exactly am I?"

They all looked at each other in confusion. The one in the Greek armor answered him.

"You're in the Emerald Forest near Beacon academy."

Minato furrowed his brows in confusion. He had never heard of Beacon academy or of an Emerald Forest. A thought came into his head, but he needed more proof.

"Could any of you tell me what the name of the world is?" he asked.

"It's called Remnant, everyone knows that." The girl in white said. "And what's with all of these weird questions? Do you have amnesia or something." She questioned him again.

"No, I think I'm just lost." He answered. "I woke up about an hour ago in this forest. I'm sorry if I caused you an inconvenience."

"Psh, don't worry about it." The red girl asked. "Were heading back to Beacon Academy right now. You can just follow us and Headmaster Ozpin can get this sorted out."

She offered her hand. "My name is Ruby Rose by the way."

Minato accepted the handshake "It's nice to meet you."

He looked to the others as they introduced themselves.

"Weiss Schnee."

"Blake Belladona."

"Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sis."

They had different surnames? Well different world, different customs he supposed.

"I'm Nora Valkryie!"

"Lie Ren."

"Pyrrha Nikos, hello."

"Jaune Arc."

Weird names, fusion weapons, and a forest filled with monsters with students to fight them. So far this is a weird world.

~ _Break_ ~

" _This guy is weird."_ Was Jaune's impression of Minato.

After everything that he and the rest of them went through today, he was ready to take a long nap. Being launched in the air, almost stabbed by a Deathstalker, and now a guy who can summon giant metal dolls by shooting himself in the head.

Maybe he made the wrong choice coming here.

' _NO!'_ His mental voice screamed. ' _You came here to be a warrior, running away now won't mean anything.'_

But what could he do? Everyone here was amazing. Even the guy who was getting mauled a second ago by a beowolf got right back up like it didn't even happen. Pyrrha said he had a strong Aura, but he had no idea how to use it, so that just made him even more incompetent. He was nothing like Pyrrha or Weiss.

Weiss was the most beautiful girl he ever met. She had that nobility around her that he had only heard in fairy tales his mom told Jaune and his sisters. Everything from her clothes to her rapier shined with elegance. And that cold and brash exterior made her even more attractive.

Pyrrha was beyond cool. Her shield and sword blew his out of the water. She fought that deathstalker without even batting an eye. And she saved his but like a dozen times already. That made Jaune frown. He liked Pyrrha, but he came here to be a warrior. He came here to be a hero. If he's constantly getting saved then what's the point of being here.

On their way back he saw Weiss eyeing him warily. He was glad at least someone else thought this was strange. The guy was currently in the middle of talking to Ruby as she asked him question after question about his name, where he's from, and his Semblance. But he only answered in vague and short answers.

"So, where are you from Minato?"

"Japan."

"Where's that?"

"East."

"East of where?"

"East."

"Alright… then what's the name of your gun?"

"Evoker."

"So it's a gun that summons creatures!"

"Yes."

"That's so cool!"

"Yes."

"You don't talk much do you Minato?"

"No."

' _What the heck kind of conversation is this_?' Jaune thought. Yang and Nora looked like they were about to bust a gut just by listening. What kind of guy just answers every question with just one word? Heck why was he so calm right now. He was being mauled a second ago, found out he was lost in a forest of Grim, and had no idea what Beacon was. But the most emotion Jaune saw out of the guy was raising his eyebrows a little.

Maybe it was just him. Heck everyone had taken everything in stride today, so something like this wouldn't bother them that much. Well if they can do it so can he!

Jaune just hoped that coming here wasn't a mistake.

~ _Break~_

Another hour of walking and they had finally reached the end of the forest. During that time Minato had answered what he could without admitting he wasn't native to the world. The girl, Ruby, had asked him question after question during the hour. This allowed him to find out, or at least infer, what this world was like and why they were fighting monsters in the forest. Apparently Beacon Academy is a training school for the hunters of Grim.

A small relief that they were not called shadows.

Apparently Ruby was two years younger than the rest here. She had apparently been invited to the school. Minato could see why. From when they showed up it was Ruby that had acted first. And since she could apparently use a hybrid scythe rifle, Minato was sure the girl could handle herself.

And right now the eight people here were completing an entrance exam. Apparently they had to gather chess pieces and group up into teams with the first person they met. An odd way to form teams, but Minato could see the merits. But before they could bring the pieces back they had to fight what sounded like a giant bird and scorpion.

Well it wasn't the strangest thing Minato had ever heard.

When they exited the forest he could see two figures waiting for them. One was a middle-aged man with tousled gray hair and thin brown eyes. He has a light complexion and sharp facial features. He wears shaded glass spectacles and a dark-green scarf with a small, purple, cross-shaped emblem on it. He wore an outfit of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green undershirt. He was also wearing black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In one hand he had a cane, which seemed to have a sword handle, and a cup of coffee in the other.

Next to him was a woman who appears to be a middle-aged. She has very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes are bright green and she wears thin ovular glasses. She wears a white long-sleeved suit that exposes part of her chest, and puffy sleeves that tighten near the wrist before spreading back out near her hands. Her lower body has a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and lighter black-brown stockings. She was also holding a riding crop.

"Welcome back everyone. It's good to see that you all survived." The man said with a smile on his face. "And it seems," he started turning to Minato, "that we have a new guest."

"Oh! Headmaster Ozpin this is-," Ruby started but was interrupted when the headmaster raised his hand.

"I am quite aware of who he is Miss Rose." He motioned towards the train in the background. "Please, everyone take the train back to the Academy, I will personally take care of Mister Minato and we shall finish your introduction into Beacon Academy when I am finished."

They all left waving their goodbyes, or in Ruby's case waving frantically, as they entered the train. He waved back out of politeness. Minato turned to the adults who looked as though they were studying him.

"Now I believe we have much to talk about," he motioned for Minato to join him and the woman.

~ _Break~_

Minato had followed Ozpin into the Beacon tower. It was an incredible sight, and Minato could see where the school got its name. The headmaster's office was at the very top and looked over the fairgrounds leading up to the main building. A way for him to watch over the entire school so to speak. And the headmaster's room was equally impressive.

It was large. Next to the window looking over the school was his desk. It looked very futuristic with the moving screen and high tech chair behind it. Minato noticed that the desk screen looked very similar to the pad that the woman held. Maybe a similar technology made into whatever it was convenient. But the room while large held a tranquil atmosphere. It reminded Minato of Tartarus floor room.

Oh and there were gears everywhere. Literally everywhere. On the ceiling, several giant ones to the side, and some gear shaped markings on the floor. Maybe it was a theme or a preference. Or it could be symbolism, Minato wasn't sure.

The headmaster took his seat while the woman stood on the side eyeing him closely. He motioned for him to take the seat in front of the desk and Minato accepted.

"Thank you for coming with us Mister Minato," he started. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am headmaster Ozpin and this is Glynda Goodwitch a teacher here at this academy. Now we have some questions for you and we were hoping you could answer them."

Minato nodded. It would benefit him to cooperate with them. They had given him no reason that they wanted to harm him so he would answer the questions he could.

"Excellent, now do you know where you are?" Ozpin started.

Minato shook his head. "I know this school is called Beacon somewhere on Remnant, but those words mean nothing to me."

"I see," Ozpin nodded. "I have a theory, if you will indulge me?" Minato nodded and allowed him to continue. "I have a feeling that we will not find you in any data base on Vale, or even Remnant for that matter."

"I am from another world." Minato could see where he was going and put the last piece of the puzzle in.

"I thought as much," Ozpin took a sip from his cup. "Tell me mister Arisato, what was the last thing you remembered before you woke up in the forest."

"I died," he answered flatly. He could tell that wasn't what they were expecting. The witch's cold eyes became soft and surprised for a second. While the headmasters face showed shock and sadness.

"You were killed before coming here?" he asked for clarification.

Minato shook his head. "It would be more accurate to say my body failed."

"You were sick?" The witch asked.

"In a way." He answered. The exact nature of his death and how he died were unimportant to them. Those were sad, but important moments for him and would be his and his alone until he deemed fit.

"I am sorry," Ozpin apologized. Minato could feel the honesty in the man's voice. "But, it seems that fate has given you a second chance."

It certainly seemed that way. Minato had guessed as to why he was alive, but he had an idea. He noticed that his Persona were not inside the Sea of Souls. He wondered why they didn't return with him, but he had an idea. He could re-ignite his bonds with the Arcana. Find souls that needed help, needed a friend, or simply needed a listening ear and reclaim his lost power. But that wasn't what struck Minato.

It was that he didn't **have** to.

In Minato's own world he gained power out of necessity. He needed that power to defeat the Shadows that came out of the tower. And he needed those links in order to truly understand what it meant to be human. Through those links he learned happiness, sadness, compassion, drive, and all that was needed to understand others. But in this world there was no Dark Hour, no shadows, and no tower. There were monsters yes, but this school had those training and ready to fight those monsters. He retained the power of his Persona, but it wasn't needed. It wasn't the only way to fight the monsters in the dark.

He could live a normal life. He was truly given a chance to have a completely normal life.

Should he though? Yes he had complete and utter control over what to do with his life. Power was not meant to be wasted away and left to rot, it was meant to be used. He retained his power, as fractured as it might be, and he could use it however he saw fit. But to do nothing, to simply live a normal life when given the opportunity to use his powers to help others again.

"This is a very… unique situation. I'm truly not sure how to proceed with this." He turned to the witch, "Do you have anything Glynda?"

"He was capable of defending himself against the Grim and has shown a unique Semblance." She broke her eyes from Minato to look at the headmaster. "If it were up to me," she looked back at him, "I would enroll him into Beacon."

They were offering to make him a student? It seemed rather sudden, but considering he had no identity in this world as well as no knowledge of it besides a few terms. It would be a mistake to not accept. But first he had some questions of his own.

"Excuse me," Minato said having gained their attention. "What is a Semblance? From what I have heard it seems to be a unique power one holds. Is this correct?"

"In simplified terms, yes." Glynda answered. "A Semblance is a tangible projection of one's Aura which is the manifestation of the soul."

That surprised Minato. It seemed that their powers were similar in a way to Persona. Though while their use of the soul manifested in separate abilities, Persona manifested in legendary figures from the collective conscience of mankind. Maybe this was why he was able to summon Orpheus. Coming to this world also allowed him to follow its rules.

Same, but different.

"Your Aura is still dormant, isn't it?" Ozpin questioned.

"I would not believe so," he answered, "my power has protected me since, and I do not know if I could unlock my Aura."

"Well then," the man stood up, "let us check and see."

He knelt next to Minato and placed a hand on his cheek. While the closeness was odd, Minato had no illusion to what the man was doing. It was the _how_ that concerned him.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality." His and the headmaster's body began to glow. His blue to Ozpin's green. "Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

Ozpin rose and took another sip of his coffee. He looked slightly tired, maybe the process had tired him?

"So," he started, "how do you feel?"

Minato looked at his hands thinking of how to answer.

"Strange and open, like adrenaline, but not at the same time."

"Then we can safely assume that it worked." He took another sip.

It was a strange feeling to Minato. His power had always come from his mind. The connection to the Sea of Souls was through the soul, but it was the mind that gave them form and coalesced power. It felt as if a pressure had been removed from just his mind and now spread throughout his body. While he doubted that it would affect how he utilized his Personas, there was still an oddness to this. He would have to experiment with to better understand what exactly had changed.

But, right now there was still a choice he must make.

"If I were to accept this proposal, I would need to know more about this world." He asked and they gave him everything he needed to know.

What the Grim were and the similarities they had with the shadows from his world. The four kingdoms and the relative peace the world is now in. That humans were not the only intelligent creatures on the planet but also a race called Faunus, who were humanlike people with animal attributes. The racial tensions between them and mankind. As well as the White Fang a radical and sometimes terrorist group of individuals who believe that humanity should be under Faunus control. Of dust and its properties. And of school and what would be taught.

In return he answered their questions. While he could only give them bits and pieces on specifics he was able to tell them the nature of his power and how it works. He also informed them that he was far weaker than when he had died, but that he would be able to regain his strength should he see the need. When asked what he would require, Minato found that the best answer would be meeting new people.

He truly considered accepting. But there was a nagging question in his mind. One that if put in the wrong context could eliminate all sense of hospitality. But he needed to ask this question.

"Why are you being so generous?" he asked.

"It's quite simple actually," Ozpin set his coffee down and looked directly into Minato's eyes. "It's to keep an eye on you," his voice had become cold and serious. "I truly believe you have no ill intentions for my school or students, but you are still an unknown factor. You are from another world of which we have no knowledge of. And until you decide to share that with us, if and ever that time comes, it shall remain that way. However you have abilities that are unheard of." He smiled at Minato, the warm part of his voice returning. "And I would rather see that power used to help others here at Beacon."

Minato nodded. He could respect the man. He had been completely honest and had answered each of Minato's questions. He truly cared for those under his protection and sought to help others as well. He was a good man and it was people like him that Minato had wished to save in his world.

"Thank you." Minato answered and saw a smile form on Ozpin's face.

"Excellent," he said. "Now, we'll need to get you a new uniform because of your tattered clothes. We have several open dorms for first years so that will be no problem. Money for personal supplies. A fake, or in this case new, ID and history. And enrollment in classes." He got up and started typing on his digital pad. "Now due to this unique situation I am afraid that you will not have a team of your own during these next four years at beacon, but considering your ability allows you to summons constructs of your soul it wouldn't be a far stretch to say you will not be fighting alone."

Minato nodded, agreeing with the statement.

"But I will see that you do joint work with other teams. It always helps to become closer to one's classmates no?" he continued.

Minato waited for Ozpin to finish typing. When he did Minato stood up and the man held his arm before him.

"I hope you do enjoy your stay at Beacon mister Arisato," he lifted his hand. Minato accepted it and heard the familiar sound of glass breaking inside his head.

 **Thou hast re-ignited the Hierophant Arcana**

 **The great Yellow Dragon has returned**

 **Remember to understand what guides oneself**

"Are you alright?" Ozpin asked. Minato, had stumbled for a second the shock of a Persona returning to the Sea of Souls. It seems that he had made his first bond in this world, and not one he would regret.

"Just dizzy," Minato answered.

"Good to know," Ozpin said. "Now before we go, are you sure this is what you want? We could let you go somewhere else, and I'm sure the other headmasters across Remnant would agree with me if you simply wanted to leave."

Minato didn't need to think it over. The answer was already there. He simply nodded in agreement.

Ozpin nodded understanding the meaning.

"Well then, let's not keep your new classmates waiting."

~ _Break~_

Turns out that the entrance exam to Beacon would commence in an hour. This gave Minato enough time to find some new clothes to replace the ones that the beowolves destroyed.

Vale had a bustling shopping center, which luckily included several clothing stores. Minato knew that a large part of his clothing would come from the school's official uniform, but it would be nice to have diversity. Walking around, Minato saw a mannequin that caught his eye.

It was a dark blue, long sleeve, button-up collared shirt with a black and white striped undershirt. It had dark blue pants with a brown belt that had several cosmetic clips. Around the neck was a long yellow scarf. (1)

While changing he emptied his pocket and found that another object was in his left shirt pocket. Pulling it out, his eyes widening a fraction, was the velvet key. The key was same in shape and form with the picture of the dual sided mask at the base. The ultra-marine key was a quite literal key to his mind and soul. But the glow that accompanied it during that year had faded. It was a key with no lock, a secret that only he held. He pocketed it in his new clothes while changing.

He had purchased it for personal reasons. It reminded him of a dear friend, a friend he was sure was long gone, and the memory no matter how feeble was comforting. He paid the fitter, discarded his old clothes, and made his way towards beacon.

~ _Break~_

He had arrived at the amphitheater during the team assignments. The assembly area takes the form of a glass-domed amphitheater with raised bleachers arranged in a circle around a circular stage that has a tall, ornate (possibly wooden) backdrop with blue lights. There is also a large, open area in front of the stage where currently four students were standing.

Three of them looked relatively normal with simple clothes. It was the large one to the left that was the odd one out. He was dressed in armor, with an ornate symbol in the middle of his chest piece, and had a brutal sort of look to him. Similar to how the gang members in Tatsumi looked, or appeared to look anyhow.

Minato stood to the side of the stage out of site as Ozpin spoke.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," the screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continues, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (pronounced Cardinal), led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The large teen in the armor sported a proud smile which was followed by several high fives and pat on backs from his new teammates. Minato wasn't surprised, he looked like the typical leader type. Also considering that they finished much sooner than the groups he met, and that they didn't even see them when they exited the forest surely spoke of their skill. Or their luck, Minato wasn't sure.

The next four that walked onto the stage were Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. Minato truly found their names odd. Two were named after crossdressing warriors of his history's past, one was akin to a Norse warrior, albeit less serious, and the last name literally meant 'sacrificial victory'. Maybe it was just an odd coincidence in this world.

Ozpin resumed speaking, "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (pronounced Juniper)."

"Led by…" the group to already be celebrating, happy with their group obviously, that they almost missed their leader's name. "…Jaune Arc!"

The boy in question looked shocked. "Huh, l-led by…"

"Congratulations young man," Ozpin didn't allow Jaune to finish.

Minato saw Pyrrha try to give Jaune a playful, or encouraging, fist to the shoulder. Which led to him falling on his butt off the stage. The boy was unsure of himself, but Ozpin had shown Minato that he was a wise man, so there was probably more to meets the eye.

There usually always is.

The last four were Ruby, Yang, Blake, and he believed the white one's name was Weiss. Their names floated above the screen just like before.

"And finally," Ozpin motioned towards the girls, "Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

The older sister rushed Ruby shaking here after exclaiming how proud she was. The team dynamic balanced itself out as far as Minato saw. Ruby was hyper and a lot younger than the rest here and Weiss would bring out that maturity with her personality. Yang was an extrovert who would be a perfect balance for the reserved Blake. He had only known the groups for less than an hour, but that had been enough to get a good idea on their personalities.

As of making the younger sister leader. The girl was a mix of shy and excited. But leaders didn't need to be the strongest or the smartest. Some just need to be the glue that holds everything together.

Besides that he believe that the name was a joke of some sorts. It had to be. The coincidence was most likely to good to pass up. Not only was the name of the team the leaders name, but the firs initials also reflected their color choices. Red for Ruby, White for Weiss, Black for Blake, and Yellow for Yang.

It was a joke, Minato couldn't accept that it was just coincidence.

Ozpin cleared his throat, "Now we have one more student to welcome here at Beacon."

He took that as his que to walk up on stage. Standing in the middle of the stage all of the eyes in the amphitheater were on him. Even now it was uncomfortable to have so many eyes on him. He was better suited to small groups and one-on-one conversations. Having them stare at him made him antsy, but reigned it in with control.

He looked to the side and noticed Ruby waving at him and her sister giving him the peace sign. The others still looked unsure about him, with Jaune looking more shocked by being leader of his own team. He acknowledged them with a nod, it was some condolence that he knew some students before starting at Beacon.

His name and a picture appeared on the screen above him.

"This year we will be implementing a special program," Ozpin motioned to the screen and where it said team there was only his name, "Minato Arisato, due to his unique abilities, prior experience, and a miscalculation on how many students would be attending this year, will be working without a team during his four years at Beacon Academy."

That announcement caused the amphitheater to be filled with murmurs and whispers. Minato himself was unsure what to think. He had simply thought he would be an extra edition to another team or would be part of another team itself.

The wall towards the back of the amphitheater became much more interesting.

"Yes, yes, I know this is a surprise to you all," he continued causing the room to become silent again, "But I believe that this will be an excellent learning experience for you all. Here at Beacon you will learn to cooperate and work together with your teammates for the next four years, but mister Arisato will add to that dynamic. During the next four years, for missions, assignments, and even school projects, mister Arisato will be joining one of your teams. This will teach that not only will you eventually have to be able to work alongside your own teammates, but you must also learn how to work with other Hunters and Huntresses."

When the headmaster finished Minato looked back towards the audience. He saw unsure looks, questioning, and even some worried. Looking back at Ozpin the man simply smiled and went to leave with Glynda.

Minato had a feeling it was going to be a long year.

 _~Break~_

It was lost.

It had woken up and been in an unfamiliar place. The world was wrong, the people wrong, the monsters wrong.

But they died all the same.

Monsters of beast and bone attacked it. It responded by ripping them to shreds. The bear ones were crushed. The flying ones plucked from the sky. Each one that attempted to attack it fell like the rest. They were perversions, filthy perversions of animals of the world. But they were not shadows. The monsters didn't become slime in its hand when it killed them. But they were monsters all the same.

Frightened not humans fired upon it when they saw it. Their deaths were swifter. It had come upon them by accident. But they weren't humans, they had parts of beast on them. They reacted in fear, it reacted in defense.

The not humans were similar to the humans. It would kill them only if they attacked first.

But something was worse than all of these wrongs. Worse than monsters and not humans. Worse than the cold landscape it trudged across.

Why couldn't it find him?

It went through the snowy tundra in search. It left and returned to only be lost again.. It would search for him. It would find him. It had to find him.

It wouldn't be alone again.

 **Author's Note**

 **(1).** **outfit is by DeathNapalm's P3/P4 Ultimax version of Minato.**

 **Hey everyone so this is my new project. After rewriting Chapter 7 of King of Souls about 12 times I decided to take a break and try something new. After finally being convinced to watch RWBY I kinda fell in love with it. Honestly the only thing I don't like about the show is the villain, but that's a rant for another day.**

 **Now King of Souls is on hiatus for the time being. I know it sucks and I've really thought hard about this. But if I can't finish one chapter without hating it I'll never finish the damn thing.**

 **So this is my rebound story and I'm gonna be working on this in my spare time.**

 **So to everyone waiting on King of Souls I am really, truly, honest to god sorry. I haven't given up on the story. I just need to get away from it for a while.**

 **Not much is going to deviate from cannon until around the end of season (volume?) 1. After that were gonna be deviating from main points and things are gonna get real.**

 **On Minato's power I thought real long and hard about this one concerning his abilities and I believe this is the best course. My biggest reason is that when doing a crossover in Fate, Index, and Bleach or whatever. Minato can have all of his powers because when he hits in those worlds something else can hit back, maybe even harder, but when in a world like RWBY it would simply be to OP. Now in regards to his persona when Minato re-ignites a bond to the Arcana he will gain the apex persona. It's regaining not restarting.**

 **Gonna do my best to meld this worlds powers with Minato's and I have some really cool ideas.**

 **I hope I can give you guys/girls/trans/fish a good story with this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

New School Plus

It had probably been close to an hour.

When Minato entered his new room, he had found that it felt odd. Unsurprising, since his, like most rooms, were meant for teams of four and not just one. Unpacking the personal belongings that Ozpin had given him, along with setting aside his weapons on one of the desk, he had settled in nicely.

Yet, that didn't stop from the feeling of emptiness.

He was used to being alone. No, not used to, simply remembering. He had been alone for most of his life. But this was a new life. A new chance. A world without shadows that turned humans into apathy. A world that didn't need to be reminded to fight. A world without a Dark Hour.

His eyes glanced towards the clock in the room.

 **11:57 pm**

At least not yet.

If he was honest with himself, Minato was worried his fears would be realized. The ability to use his Persona and re-ignite his Social Links worried him. What should only have appeared during the Dark Hour had assumed form within normal time and day. Links that were slumbering were returned. This wasn't his world though, the Dark Hour had no form or reason to exist, it should be impossible to form.

Minato, learned a long time ago that impossible was just a world.

So he waited. The Nihil weapon sat on the desk by his bed, but the Evoker he held in his hand. A reassurance, just in case.

 **11:58 pm**

He worried how others would react to the Dark Hour. There were several ways this could happen. The most preferable would be that the Dark Hour didn't exist in this world and there would be nothing to worry about. Next would be the Dark Hour appearing, but only he would be conscience of the hidden hour, and he would have to find the source and hope that history would not repeat. And the worse would be that he brought the Dark Hour with him, and not only would he have to guide the Hunters and Huntresses caught within, but also regain the power he lost to its full potential and prepare for either Erebus or Nyx.

 **11:59 pm**

One minute left. He watched the seconds tick away. His grip on the Evoker tightened. Fear entered his mind, of what could happen, of the horrors that could exist. But he didn't take his eyes off of the clock.

 **12:00 am**

Nothing.

It took him a second to realize that time hadn't stopped. The sky and world around him hadn't turned a sickly green. He walked towards the window to see that the sky hadn't changed either. His eyes were drawn towards the glowing orb in the sky. He saw the moon.

A shattered moon.

Minato wasn't sure what to think of what he saw. The moon looked as though it had been broken into pieces. What was strong enough that it could shatter a quarter of the moon and not only keep it in rotation, but the separated pieces as well? It could simply be a natural law of this world. He would have to ask Professor Ozpin about it later.

With his fears laid to rest, Minato went to sleep.

His first day of school started tomorrow.

 _~Break~_

He woke up around eight in the morning.

Minato put himself on autopilot. He got dressed in the academy uniform, brushed his teeth, looked at what classes he would have for the day, and packed his bags accordingly. All in all it took around 20 minutes to get ready for the day. It was strange carrying around his weapons at all times, but unlike most of the students at Beacon his weapons did not collapse into a more manageable form.

While walking to his first class, Minato, found it odd that they only had three classes for the entire semester. First was Grimm studies, which he assumed covered everything thy needed to learn and know about the creatures, with Professor Peter Port. The history of Remnant with Bartholomew Oobleck. Then it was combat and aura training with Professor Glynda Goodwitch. Each class lasted two hours with a lunch break in between. But with a smaller amount of classes that would imply more work in each as compensation.

He was the first to arrive in the classroom and there was still around 22 minutes until the class would officially start. Taking out a notebook and pencil he waited. While waiting, Minato got a good look at the classroom. It was shaped like a college lecture hall, with the desk set up in elevated rows. In the very front was a standard teaching podium with a large blackboard in the back.

Above the blackboard and around the room as a whole was a collection of pictures and Grimm trophies. It looked like diagrams of the various types of Grimm. Each picture had a skeletal picture along with several notes along the side. It seemed appropriate considering this was Grimm studies.

While reading one of the diagrams on a creature called an Ursa, which like the constellation in his world's night sky was a bear, a man walked into the room. He looked to be middle-age with his gray hair, and was dressed in a button up burgundy suit. On his soldier was a large rattling cage that grunted and snarled while he put it to the side of the classroom. The cage started to rattle and jump even more violently until a slam from the man made it go silent.

It wasn't hard to guess what was in the cage.

It wasn't until he stepped up to the podium that he noticed Minato was there.

"Oh!" he said surprised, "Good morning young man."

Minato nodded his head in greeting.

"I didn't even notice you," he said while scratching his beard, "I'm not used to my new students arriving to class so early," he started to look around the room, "and I don't see the rest of your team. You didn't leave them behind did you?" He chuckled.

"I do not have an official team sir," Minato answered.

That made the man, obviously Professor Port at this point, raise his eyebrows.

"I see, then you are the new student Headmaster Ozpin told us about. While I personally feel somewhat uncomfortable that you do not have an official team of your own. I have complete and utter faith in the Headmaster, he has never steered me wrong before and I trust his judgement on this."

Minato nodded in agreement. The man seemed to have an open nature to him. Not many wouldn't question when someone goes against traditional means.

He must truly trust Ozpin.

"Now, even though you don't have your own team don't expect any special treatment," he continued, "The headmaster deemed you strong enough to handle yourself on your own and join other teams in their own missions. You will be held to the same standard as everyone here."

"I understand."

"That's the spirit!" he put his fist to his side and stood proudly, "Now we'll wait for your classmates and you'll be introduced to, I dare say, the greatest of all of the classes here at Beacon!

 _~Break~_

No matter what world, it seemed, there would always be teachers who would rant on about their favorite subjects.

In his world is was Mr. Ono, who would disregard all of history as boring and a pain to get through, but the second they were on the subject of Samurai he became obsessed. While Minato was sure that Professor Port would not disregard other parts of his teaching, it turns out he would just apply it to his preference.

Namely himself.

Minato had learned that young Beowolves would recklessly rush and attack people no matter the danger, by hearing that Port killed several dozen after the death of their Alpha while the older ones left to survive.

It honestly would have been entertaining to a degree, and would make for some informative information. Had he not droned on and on about himself and stuck to the material it wouldn't have been so bad.

But, droning or not he was teaching and Minato wrote down his notes. This, outside of personal study, was his major source of knowledge on the Grimm. And considering that four of them had almost killed him in his weakened state was a good motivator.

Looking around the room, Minato noticed that more than half the class was asleep. Team RWBY, was directly below him with two out of the four fighting to stay awake. Weiss and Blake seemed fine, at least Blake did, the rapier user seemed agitated. Team JNPR, was similar with their leader and hyperactive teammate fast asleep, while Pyrrha and Ren seemed to be fine.

The two groups had arrived seconds before the class had started. Some of them, Jaune, were out of breath and took their seats looking slightly embarrassed.

Ruby and her sister had waved to him when they took their seats as did Pyrrha and Nora. Weiss and Blake merely glanced at him, Ren had given a short nod, and Jaune looked uncomfortable.

He was visibly shaken by his ability, Minato recalled.

Glancing over to Team RWBY, Minato noticed that Ruby was trying to interact with Weiss.

And failing, by the looks of it.

Ruby tried to show her something on a paper. Was balancing her school supplies on her nose. Then she simply tried talking to her. Which, Minato noticed, only seemed to cause the girl more and more agitation.

This wouldn't end well.

Before Weiss could explode, Professor Port motioned to the class.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Not even waiting a second Weiss raised her hadn. "I do, sir!"

Port seemed to smile, which was hard to tell from his constantly closed eyes, "Well, then, let's find out!" He pointed to the shaking cage he brought in before class. "Step forward, and face your opponent!"

 _~Break~_

Weiss had brought out her rapier/revolver and loaded it with several canisters of different colors. Minato assumed that was the Dust he was told about. Apparently Dust held elemental qualities that could influence and enhance ones abilities.

Interesting weapon aside, Minato found himself concerned. She was angry, or more annoyed than angry, but her entire body spoke of someone who wasn't thinking straight. If she allowed her emotions to control her actions, then whatever Grimm that was in the cage could seriously hurt her.

Minato, found it odd he was worrying at all. Maybe it was because she along with the two teams were the first faces he saw in this world. It could be his past experiences having an effect on his emotions. Even after that one year, he was still relatively new to his own feelings.

Despite his worries he had no knowledge on her abilities. They had found him being gnawed on by a beowolf, while being no worse for wear themselves. It would be foolish of him to think she couldn't handle herself. Especially while the rest of her team had complete confidence in her.

"Gooo Weiss!" Yang yelled.

"Fight well," Blake followed waving a Team RWBY flag

' _Where did she get that?'_ Minato thought.

"Yeah Weiss! Represent Team RWBY!" their leader cheered.

"I'm trying to focus!" she yelled at her team. Which caused them to look rather uncomfortable.

Yang patted her sister on the shoulder, in an attempt at reassurance. It seemed that their team member hadn't fully adjusted to their group yet. He could understand, in a way she reminded him of an odd mix between Yukari and Junpei. The annoyance at her leader and wish to prove herself made her similar. But that was where the similarities ended as well.

The girl seemed much more confident than his two best friends. Her professional personality and apparent studious nature in class put her with the likes of Mitsuru. But Mitsuru knew how to control herself and her emotions, she also knew when to speak to her team and to confront issues at the right time.

Those memories made him frown. He still missed them, and he wasn't sure he never wouldn't.

"Alright, begin!" Port signaled for Weiss to start and released the Grimm inside the cage.

Inside the cage was a boar of some kind. But had pieces of white armor along its back and side, with a similar mask to the wolves he fought the other day. But, like all boars, it was a dangerous creature and could kill the unfortunate.

Weiss started with an aura enhanced thrust straight at the Grimm. Which, unfortunately, did nothing as the blade glanced off of the armor. Surprised, but not stopped, Weiss dodged to the side as the boar tried to impale her with its wicked tusks. Weiss tried the same thing, but at the sides rather than the face, but yielded similar results as the blade simply couldn't penetrate the boars thick hide and armor.

"Weren't expecting that were you?" Port questioned. Weiss, wisely, did not take her eyes off of the boar. "The Boarbatusk, is an incredibly sturdy Grimm, with armor along its side and back. Recklessly charging this Grimm has made an end to many unfortunate hunters."

This was an unfortunate match for Weiss. A rapier's main strength lies within its thrusting attacks. Against those with heavy armor, a rapier loses much of its advantage in a fight. Unlike his Nihil weapons base form, the katana, it specializes in strikes and slashing moves that give it a more balanced approach. The rapier is a weapon of immense skill, not strength.

"You got this Weiss!" Ruby continued to cheer.

"Will you just SHUT UP!" she yelled in response.

That officially made the entire class uncomfortable. Ruby looked heartbroken and proceeded to keep her head down. Blake closed her eyes and shook her head. Yang looked angry. Team JNPR looked equally as uncomfortable. Minato could understand, but that wasn't what he focused on.

Weiss had taken her eyes off of the boarbatusk.

It didn't even take a second. Too late to notice her mistake the boarbatusk had rushed her. Had her natural reflexes not kicked in she would have been skewered, or at least injured, and locked the tusks in place with her rapier. That, however, was a mistake as the boarbatusk thrashed around causing her to lose her grip on the rapier. The boar tossed the weapon behind it and started towards Weiss again.

"Now what will you do?" Port questioned, in an oddly jolly tone.

Minato stole a glance at her team leader. While still holding that depressed look, Minato could tell she was struggling not to speak. She wanted to help, to give encouraging words, and tell her how to win. But the last time she spoke, Weiss lost her weapon. She was conflicted, Minato could understand to some degree.

The boarbatusk suddenly jumped into the air and formed into a ball. Somehow it began spinning gaining speed as it did so. It reminded him of a video game character Ken used to play.

Weiss looked towards her weapon and braced herself. Behind her a glowing blue glyph of some sorts appeared behind her. Minato didn't know exactly what it was, but it could be a semblance or some kind of Dust enhancement, either way it was an impressive ability.

The boarbatusk launched itself with great speed, promising to rip through anything in its way into pieces. Weiss in turn launched herself over the Grimm and reached her weapon. The Grimm made a sharp turn and headed directly for Weiss, somehow able to know where she was even while spinning. She spun the chamber in her rapier and struck it into the ground.

A pillar of ice had erupted right under the boarbatusk piercing its belly, its only unprotected area, halting and killing it instantly.

It reminded Minato of a well-executed Bufu.

Most of class had erupted in applause. Her team clapped awkwardly, but congratulated her nonetheless.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Port congratulated, "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and…," the man paused as if trying to think of what to say, "…stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss huffed out of the room and left alone, her team following shortly after albeit hesitantly.

"Sheesh, what's her problem," Jaune said to no one.

Minato shrugged. It wasn't his team. They would have to confront each other on their own.

He had other classes to go to.

 _~Break~_

Minato's second class was a little less exciting.

After Meeting Professor Oobleck, Minato could say he was certain about three things.

First was that the man had a real love of history and wished to share that knowledge with his utmost being. Second, is that he is incredibly sharp, able to see everything in class at a glance and keep a certain order to the class. Third was his love of coffee.

An incredible love of coffee.

When he spoke nothing seemed to slow down. His body was in a constant state of extreme motion. Like someone who was hyped up on caffeine and never came out.

It was quite a change from his former history classes which droned on and held no interest from the students. While the former was no longer true, the later still couldn't keep everyone's attentions. Even so, with as hard as it was to take notes, Minato welcomed the change.

Stealing a glance towards Team RWBY caused Minato to frown for a fraction of a second.

Weiss had distanced herself as far away from her team as possible while the rest sat together. Yang was fighting to stay awake, while Blake was quickly writing in her notebook. What was surprising was that Ruby was trying equally as hard to write down notes.

While leaving his last class he overheard Weiss and Ruby talk. Well talk is a strong word, more like talk and get yelled at would be more accurate. It ended with the older girl leaving in a huff with a dejected Ruby.

Ozpin had showed up shortly after, and at that point Minato had decided to leave. Apparently the headmaster had given some words of encouragement to Ruby. The girl was struggling to keep up with the hyperactive teacher, but her teammate seemed to be doing fine.

All in all it was a more relaxed experience to the previous class.

At the end of class Oobleck had assigned some homework and released everyone for their lunch break.

The mess hall was enormous. It was made to seat several hundred students, but currently only held several dozen. Getting his lunch, Minato went and sat at an empty area. It was nice and quiet and he could relax his mind.

For about three seconds.

Almost instantly the R, B, and Y of Team RWBY sat across him.

"Yo Minato!" Yang greeted with a peace sign.

He eyed them, and saw that Weiss was sitting alone on the other side of the cafeteria.

"So how's your first day at Beacon?" Ruby asked.

"Going well," he looked at Ruby, "but you're missing a member."

That caused their leader to slump her head in defeat.

"I don't know what to do!" she yelled while tears rolled down her face in an almost waterfall like manner, "I thought we were friends, but now she hates me again, and I try to help, but she gets even more made. And IdontknowwhattodowhatamIgoingtodo"

She slammed her head on the table and pulled her red hood over, as if trying to hide from the world.

"Hey, c'mon sis," Yang hugged her sister, "She'll come around eventually, I mean we live together so she can't avoid us forever y'know."

Blake patted her leaders back in a 'there-there' fashion.

Ruby picked up her head, her eyes slightly red. "Ozpin said that I need to think how to be a leader, but I have NO IDEA HOW!" she yelled, "I've never lead anything before, how am I going to lead a whole team?"

She looked at Minato.

"Have you ever been part of a team before Minato?" she questioned.

Minato nodded.

"Did you ever lead a team?"

"In a way," he answered.

"Wait, what?" Yang questioned. "You led a team?"

"I remember him saying, in a way." Blake confirmed.

Minato nodded. "The team I was part of had two leaders. Our entire team answered to Mitsuru, she decided what we did, when we would do it, and planned out most of our missions. I was in charge of the battle teams."

His leadership was due mostly to his ability rather than the experience Mitsuru had. Minto could adapt to almost any situation and could coordinate the teams in the most effective styles. He wasn't suited for actual leader, in his own opinion. He didn't know enough about people in order to inspire them, while that was no longer true he still felt uncertain.

"Wait, wait, wait," Yang started, "You were in charge of the fighting teams?"

"The teams that went on missions, yes," he answered.

"That's pretty sweet man."

"Indeed," Blake added, "To be trusted to lead everyone over the current leader is a major amount of trust. You must be quite strong."

"Ummm, Minato?" Ruby questioned, looking unsure and almost embarrassed, "Do… you think you could, maybe, I don't know. Give me some pointers?"

She wanted advice.

Minato was unsure how to handle her specific situation, but he could help.

"Ruby, do you know what the most important thing to have in a team is?"

Her face scrunched up thinking for an answer. "Is it, teamwork?"

Minato shook his head, "Close, but no."

"Ohhhh, you mean communication?"

Again he shook his head.

"Uh, cool weapons?"

Minato sighed, "Trust."

"Of course," she slapped her head, "that was my next answer."

"Do you know why?" he questioned again.

She shook her head.

"It is the most important, because without trust a team cannot function. Being part of a team, especially one that risks their lives, needs trust. You must be able to trust each other with your lives, to be able to rely on one another when the time comes, to believe in one another in your darkest hours, and to do that you must trust one another."

Their faces were in a state of mild shock. Either what he had said had made an impact. Or they were surprised he had talked so much. Either way Ruby seemed to be understanding.

"But, I do trust Weiss," she answered.

"Are you sure?" he pressed, "You seemed to think she needed help with the boarbatusk."

"What! No!" she shook her head. "Weiss is can so handle herself in fight. And her Myrtenaster is so elegant and cool! I just wanted to help her is all, I'm leader of Team RWBY so I should help everyone right?"

Her heart was in the right place. She was made leader of her team, so her immediate reaction was to assume the type of leader who advises and helps whenever possible. The problem with that was that she was just as inexperienced as them, maybe even more so, and it could come off as insulting.

"You aren't wrong Ruby," he answered, "But as leader, trust will be the most difficult for you."

She looked confused so he continued.

"For the rest of your team, they must learn to trust each other in how they fight and act. But for you they must trust your decisions. As leader you will be the decider for the best course of action for almost any situation. They must learn to trust your decisions, and you must learn how to trust yourself as well. And right now," glancing to their lone teammate, "she doesn't trust you."

"But what should I do?" she asked, desperation in her voice.

"Sometimes nothing," that answer didn't help, but he continued, "But I think this has more to do with her than you Ruby."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Weiss believes that you are not leader material," her head looked down.

"She, may have said something like that." Ruby answered.

"But I think she is wrong," she looked up her eyes wide, "A bad leader doesn't care what their subordinates think, a bad leader doesn't look to fix a team's relationship, a bad leader doesn't," he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder for emphasis, "ask for help. If she doesn't believe you are a good leader, then prove her wrong, prove that you have what it takes. That is the best advice I can give you."

Ruby wiped her eyes and a new more intense expression took its place.

"You're right Minato!" she reached over and took him in an, incredibly uncomfortable, bear hug, "I just gotta show Weiss I'm the best leader she'll ever have!"

"I knew coming to Team RWBY's reserve member would help!" she let go and a familiar sound of glass shattering echoed through his mind.

 **Thou hast re-ignited the Moon Arcana**

 **The song of the heavens has returned**

 **Enjoy and dream of a great world, but do not blind oneself to what could be**

Though surprised, Minato made sure not to visibly reel back as of last time.

"Just to show her, I'm gonna get to our last class before everyone!" She then swallowed all of her food faster than humanely possible and sped away in a flash of roses.

Minato noticed that he hadn't finished his sandwich yet and began to eat again. He noticed that Yang and Blake were still here and both had smiles on their faces.

"That was pretty cool dude," Yang said chewing into an apple, "Sis really needed another pick me up, didn't know you were all wise and stuff."

"I think you really helped her," Blake continued eating her own plate of tuna fish, "thank you."

Minato nodded. She had asked for his help. As hyper as Ruby was, the girl, like most teenagers her age, were loaded with insecurities. He already had an idea that what Ozpin had old her had helped, but it never hurt to add a small bit a reassurance.

But he remembered an odd thing their leader said.

"Reserve member?" he asked.

This caused Yang to smile.

"Yep. Remember when Ozpin said you were gonna be workin with everyone?"

Minato nodded.

"Weeeellllll, that means you're like Team RWBY's extra member, right?" she saw the confused look on Minato's face and continued, "I thought that maybe telling Ruby that might of cheered her up."

He frowned. "Technically I'm not on anyone's team." He corrected.

"Technically," Blake spoke, "you are on everyone's team," she smiled.

He hadn't really thought of it like that. But, he could think about it later. He had lunch to finish and half an hour to get to his final class.

 _~Break~_

"This is your Combat and Aura training classroom."

Professor Goodwitch began. It was built like a small stadium with a large monitor, to the side, that held everyone's names on a list. She looked exactly the same as yesterday and even held the riding crop.

He was looking forward to the class, not for the chance to fight his fellow classmates, but to learn how to use his newly acquired Aura. He still had no idea as to what his Aura had done to his original abilities, if it did anything at all, and if he also acquired a semblance of some sort. Maybe by watching his classmates he could figure it out on his own.

"In this class you will be trained and tested on your fighting ability," she continued, "as well as your mastery over your aura. There is more to fighting than simply being stronger than your opponent. You must learn how to adapt to a losing situation, understand when to go on the offensive and defensive, and above all."

She slapped the crop in her hand making an audible snap.

"Know. Your. Limits." She punctuated for emphasis.

"Many foolhardy hunters and huntresses to be, have ended up dead because they took on challenges to great for them to handle. I am here to make you realize your weaknesses and that you must either overcome them, or not let them control you."

"Now turn your eyes to the monitor," said monitor brought up several bars and names, "When fighting one another, the monitor will track your aura levels, when your aura reaches the red it has been depleted and you have lost the match. Most of your training will be against one another in dueling type matches, but there will be times where we will leave Beacon to combat Grimm."

The monitor changes and pictures were displayed on two blocks. The pictures began to spin, similar to a slot machine.

"Now, I know that today is your first day, and I'm sure that your other professors have given you a fair amount of homework, so you will be leaving class early today."

A collection of cheers and high fives echoes through the room.

"After a quick match between students," she smirked.

Said collection was now groaning.

Looking towards the monitor everyone waited for the results. The first name was Dove Bronzewing of Team CRDL. The second was Minato.

It seems he would be testing his abilities earlier than he thought.

They walked towards the center of the platform, weapons at their side.

Dove has light-brown hair that is combed to the left. He wears tan-colored armor with a belt that bears a dove on its buckle.

He also keeps his eyes shut to a slightly noticeable squint.

Dove appeared to have a collapsible gunblade, it held a revolver like chamber, similar to Weiss', but not as large. The blade was quite long, and looked as deadly as Minato's Nihil weapon. Dove went into his at the ready stance waiting for the match to start.

Minato, took his own stance, in return. His fighting stance is what some would call at first glance lazy.

Junpei had called it, his I don't care stance, and had become some small inside joke between them.

In its basic form he relaxed his limbs and simply let the sword and gun hang against his sides. It allowed him to act freely with no rigid movements in the way, and gave opponents the idea that he didn't know how to fight.

Joking aside, Minato had named it his zero stance.

Dove, it seems, had fallen for the stance's result and looked annoyed. Like he had just been insulted. But, said nothing and waited for Goodwitch to start the match.

"You got this Minato!" Yang yelled behind him.

"Good luck," Blake followed.

"I _trust_ you Minato!" Ruby cheered along.

Maybe he had laid it too thick with the ideas of trust to her. But, he couldn't fault the girl for trying.

"Show this solo act whose boss Dove!" His leader yelled, with the rest of his team following in suit.

"Begin!" Goodwitch started.

Almost immediately, Dove jumped into the air and aimed his gunsword at Minato. Time slowed down for a fraction of a second, bringing Orpheus to the forefront of his mind, the first of his persona giving him renewed strength and speed.

Battle instinct did the rest. Using the Nihil weapon as an impromptu shield, Minato deflected the bullets, but one did manage to hit his arm.

Surprisingly the bullet did not pierce the skin.

He felt the impact, and there was the pain that followed, but the bullet had hit his skin and acted more like a punch than a pierce. This could be a result of his aura awakening, but he could study the changes to his body later, his opponent wouldn't allow him the time.

Dove, descended towards Minato, spinning like a makeshift tornado. Minato dodged backwards to avoid the blade, but as soon as he landed, Dove remained on the offensive. For every strike, Minato blocked in turn. For every thrust, Minato parried easily. And every attempt to get past his defenses were met with unbreakable resistance.

Dove was slightly stronger than Minato, which was saying much considering the enhanced abilities of his Persona. But they could only enhance so much. It would be accurate to say that currently, he could only use around 10% of his Persona's actual power when they were at the forefront of his mind.

He could easily summon Orpheus and end this duel here and now, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. This world had affected his powers in strange ways, and with the addition of aura, Minato needed to test his abilities and not ignore them for preference of something familiar.

Dove attempted another downward slash at Minato, but was blocked by the side of his Evoker. Minato, swung his sword at the student's midsection.

And was shot in the head.

In all honesty, it was the gun that was the most problematic. Against regular swords, Minato wouldn't have any problem, but the odd weaponry of this world posed a problem. Weapons with no range now had several realms of range to choose from. Weapons that could be parried, must also be shielded from as well.

Stealing a glance at the monitor, Minato noticed his aura bars had taken several hits and were now in the yellow, while Dove was still at full health.

He had been on the offensive against Minato since the beginning. Allowing no chance of retaliation, but in that lied a weakness.

If Minato could of balance him once, he would have complete control of the fight.

So he decided it was time to test out a theory.

Suddenly rushing at Dove, Minato swung his sword attempting to catch the blade, and the user, off guard. He succeeded in both, and Minato could see the boy attempting to throw a punch. Luckily, Minato, was a bit faster and pointed his evoker right at his opponent's chest.

"Agi"

Uttering the fire spell sent a rush of power through his mind to his Evoker. Pulling the trigger a small ball of fire escaped from the barrel and resulted in an explosion when it his Dove's chest. The blast blew his opponent across the arena, with the sound of the monitor showing a rapidly decreasing aura bar.

Dove slowly got up, clutching his smoking chest, pain and anger etched onto his face.

Agi, was the weakest of his fire spells. And at a range did relatively small damage. It was hot enough to burn, but usually it never caused an explosion, or singed in any way. But at the range he was at with Dove, the compressed explosion did more damage than usual.

Of course he ran the risk of injuring himself, but he was experienced enough to know his own strength. Had he used Agilao, Minato would have probably severely burned his arm and Dove would be on fire.

Dove rushed him again, with no strategy but to hurt Minato. Minato blocked the sword strike and pistol, or evoker, whipped his head, knocking him to the ground.

The dinging sound from the monitor signaled the match had ended.

Minato had won, and had successfully tested his Evoker.

"Well done Mister Arisato, using your opponents own momentum against them." Goodwitch complimented. "And Mr. Bronzewing, while I applaud your use of constant pressure on your opponent, allowing yourself to lose focus after one attack costed you."

Minato walked over and offered him a hand up. Dove swatted it away and struggled to get up, holding his head, he walked back to the stands, muttering something about a 'cheap shot.' Minato saw Cardin and the other two look disappointed, he was pinching his nose, and waited for Dove to return.

After a nod from Goodwitch, Minato returned to his seat.

Team RWBY and JNPR instantly surrounded him.

"I thought you said your gun didn't shoot bullets?" Weiss asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"It doesn't," he said, "It shoots an elementally enhanced piece of aura."

That was the simplest way to answer them. Minato, had assumed that not only had he retained his powers, but that this world had changed them somehow. Especially with his newly unlocked aura. But, for what had exactly caused the change and allowed him to not only retain his powers and also adapt to new ones, Minato believed he had an idea.

The Universe Arcana.

The final, and greatest, of the arcana was something, that even as wielder, he didn't truly understand. Minato could only assume that a fraction of its infinite power had allowed him to adapt to this new world.

"Your gun lets you shoot aura," Blake questioned.

"That's so cool!" Ruby grabbed his hand and stared, a little uncomfortably, at his Evoker.

"You can summon that giant doll, and it lets you shoot your aura as well, you could have an infinite amount of ammunition, and nobody would ever know what type of element you're using!" Ruby turned her eyes to him, eyes oddly shaped like stars, "Can you teach me how to do that with Crescent Rose?"

Minato shook his head. Realizing how much of a weapon nut the girl was.

"One of a kind," he hoped his answer would be enough.

"That was pretty impressive," Pyrrha patted his shoulder, "But, something tells me that you aren't used to fighting in in the arena."

Minato nodded.

Minato, had spent a year fighting monsters. And while they would sometimes take humanlike forms, in the end they were still monsters. Minato did practice against people before, he was one of the best members of his kendo team, and Akihiko had taught everyone how to box. Nevertheless, Minato fought with a precision and thought to kill. Drawing a weapon on an opponent, and then proceeding to go after them with physical force, made him slightly uncomfortable. The only other humans he had fought were the members of Strega.

They were treated as monsters.

Even now, Minato thought he had used to much force with the Agi. But, Minato remembered that this was a warrior school. They were here to learn, to bond with others, and train for the monsters they will eventually face. To survive in the real world, they had to survive the protected one first.

"I just saw him block bullets and knock a guy out in two hits," Jaune said looking sheepish, "Am I missing something?"

"She means that his moves are reserved," Ren said.

That was probably the first time Minato heard him speak. Someone as quiet as him was weird.

"Yeah! Like when he blocked Dove's sword, he was so ready to stab the guy," Nora elaborated. "It would have been kinda morbid though, like crushing someone's hand in arm wrestle," her face lighted up and looked to Ren.

"Hey, Rem remember that one time where that guy bet us if we could fight or not?"

Her partner sighed, "You didn't have to break his arm Nora."

"Well how else was he supposed to know if we were tough enough?" she asked as though actually perplexed.

"And when we had to find another bus driver?" Ren asked.

"Hardship builds character!" was her answer.

"Anyway," Pyrrha tried to get the conversation back on track, "That was a good match, your fighting skills are much better than I originally thought."

Surprise suddenly found itself on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that sounded insensitive of me." She apologized.

"You found me at the mercy of beowolves, you weren't wrong to assume that." He said trying to ease the girl's guilt.

"Well at least he didn't do the whole suicide summoning thing," Jaune mumbled to the side.

Minato had a feeling that Jaune was uncomfortable around him. Then again, the boy seemed out of place from the start. Out of everyone here, Jaune, was the only one without a type of gun hybrid weapon. His sword and shield were still practical in this world, and it allowed him simple and defensive options of fighting, but it was out of place. Minato's weapons would be considered old school, with the gun sword combo, while Jaune's would be archaic.

Even so, he was entitled to his own opinions. If Minato saw the chance to ease his mind around him and his Personas it would be helpful.

Glancing at Bronzewing's team, Minato found himself frowning. Dove was brushing the ash off of his chest while arguing with his other teammates. Apparently his loss had garnered ridicule from them, and he wasn't taking it well.

For some reason that annoyed him.

Teams should support one another, congratulate in victory, and comfort in defeat. But now every team was SEES. Not every team was his. So he held his opinions to himself, the world was is filled with differences. He couldn't expect everyone to act like his own thoughts of a concept.

And with that classes ended and Minato returned to his dorm room. He saw Weiss go away from her team, almost looking as if she was in search of someone, and the rest of Team RWBY went to their dorms as well.

Apparently he was around the corner from the two teams. Something that bot Ruby and Nora were happy about. Something about the gang being all together.

 _~Break~_

With the rest of the day to himself, Minato had a lot to think about.

He had regained the Moon arcana from Ruby. It seemed that making a connection with someone was enough to re-awaken his power. Or it could be a promise to keep the bonds he would make. It had surprised him that the girl represented the Moon, but from her wish to be a hero and focus on dreams it wasn't hard to make the connection.

He also had his connection with Ozpin to consider.

The man was a teacher. His Arcana, and job, said as much. But there was very little Minato knew about the man. In fact he knew very little about Ruby as well. Maybe his power returning wasn't a result of him making the connections, but others connecting with him. It wasn't implausible, but he still knew too little to make a conclusion.

His thoughts turned to his Persona.

Kohryu, the draconian ruler over the Si Xang, had returned to his mind yesterday. The dragon was the epitome of the Hierophant arcana. Wisdom and power were at the very core of its being, and its reign over the element of earth spoke volumes. Bringing it to the forefront of his mind gave him a clarity he had not felt for some time. He felt older, wiser, and the strength of the ancient dragon, however diluted, filled him with power.

Knowing that he could call upon it just fine, Minato brought Sandalphon to his mind.

The archangel was something entirely different from the dragon. Sandalphon was the music of heaven. He gathered the prayers of the faithful and his song echoed throughout the heavens for all to hear. If Metatron was the voice of God, then Sandalphon was the song.

Already dreams and tales of glory appeared in his mind. What he could do, what he could do for others, the limitless possibility that was open to him. Such was the leader of the Moon arcana. Dreams and ideals made into form, while inspiring, without an actual goal at hand dreams remained simply that, dreams.

Knowing his Persona were fine, Minato focused on something new.

Namely, how to find his Semblance.

One's Semblance corresponds to who they actually are. At least, that is what he assumed from what Ozpin had told him, and Minato's own intuition. A semblance could be something situational, like Weiss' glyphs. Or could be a very flexible, like Ruby's speed.

When trying to think of what his could be, Minato found himself stumped. The only thing he could think of was his Persona, he had never needed anything else. The power of Persona was potentially unlimited, only hindered by human limitations. Knowing that he could unlock a secondary power, Minato wasn't sure what to think.

If, and when, he did unlock his semblance. He hoped it wouldn't be some destructive power. He had more than enough power to cause damage and destruction. Something simple and quiet, he could use that.

After finishing his homework for the next day, Minato found himself thinking of Team RWBY.

He hoped they could patch their differences with each other. They were good people. From their hyperactive leader, and her protective older sister. To the stoic reader, and their resident ice queen.

Odd how he had met another one.

Their group was odd that's true. But he knew from personal experience that odd teams could bear the strongest of bonds.

Minato went to sleep, knowing tomorrow would be a new day.

 _~Break~_

It had reached a snowy tundra.

The monsters still took the form of animals. From large, black fur covered with white armor, apes. To almost solid white bears. Some even took the form of large serpents that hid under the ice, waiting for unfortunate passersby's.

What was strange was that, unlike the others, they did not attack it.

Some still felt foolhardy enough to challenge it to the dance of death. But they died quick enough. It would see them traveling, they could glance at it, and continue on their way.

It seems that the monsters had some sense of self preservation, unlike their mountainous brothers. It was almost impressed, that the perversions of actual living creatures could actually have a coherent thought other than attack and kill.

It did not save them.

They were still monsters. It ripped them to pieces, sliced them in half, and pummeled them until there was nothing left but black mush. Every group it saw would die, it wouldn't lie and say it did not receive a sick pleasure from the actions. Some managed to latch onto it and latch their teeth and claws into its arm.

It responded by crushing said head and arms with its own hands.

One of the Serpents had tried to eat it. In a swift attack while killing on of the bear like creatures it had swallowed it and the bear whole. The inside of the monster was dark and filled with the smell of death and decay.

It laughed when it ripped itself out of the serpent's stomach.

In its haze of killing, it had almost forgotten its goal. It had still not found him. Even now it could not feel his connection. He could be lost, or hurt, or happy for all it knew. But right now, all it knew was that it couldn't find him.

Setting its feet back on the icy ground it moved forward.

* * *

 **Author's note.**

 **Hey guys sorry about the late update.**

 **Ok so I want to say right off the bat that not every chapter will have a new arcana awakening. Secondly I thought reeeaaaalllly hard about what arcana Ruby was, and with a little help from the internet I found the Moon to represent her the best.**

 **Also I'm currently searching for a beta reader so if anyone knows one, or if you are one. Please contact me via PM and I'll get back to you.**

 **And thanks to Eldenwind, who pointed out a few mistakes I made when referring to Team JNPR. I'll be fixing those when I get a chance.**

 **Now to get back to Far Cry Primal and DumbRWBY.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

School days

Ozpin had recently finished creating the fake documents of a Minato Arisato.

The files claimed he used to live on one of the uninhabited islands separated from Atlas and Vale until it was overrun with Grimm and forced to leave. In the files, it had a record of his age, traits, education, and abilities.

Of which most were lies and half-truths, but it was adequate.

Ozpin had sent them all to Minato, just in case he was asked any questions he couldn't answer, but the young man seemed capable enough.

"So Glynda," Ozpin said to the only other member of the room, "What exactly are your thoughts on Mister Arisato."

Not taking her eyes off of her data pad, Glynda held a thoughtful expression.

"As far as school goes, he's the perfect student," she said.

"He never arrives late to class, his homework shows that he completely understands the material that's given to him, and in class, he is not disruptive in any way," she elaborated.

"I see," Ozpin answered, "And this is just your opinion?"

Glynda shook her head.

"I also have statements from Professor Oobleck and Port that during his first week he has been nothing short of exemplary. Both claim he has an avid interest in each of the classes. But, that makes sense considering his… situation."

Being suddenly thrown into a new world where you had no knowledge of the monsters that plague its people, or history of the world. It would make perfect sense to learn as much as possible.

And from what Ozpin had seen of the Minato so far, it was easy to see.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"If there were one thing I would say negatively about him," she scrunched up her face, "Is that in my class, he has no drive."

"What do you mean?" Ozpin questioned.

"Everyone in my classes in some way, shape, or form tries to push themselves. Even Mister Arc, who had no formal training, has shown small amounts of progress and want to do better." She explained.

"However, Mister Arisato just doesn't. In every match I put him in, he never shows any desire to improve his combat skills, no wish to change or improve his style, and is completely uncaring about my class as a whole."

"That is a little troubling," Ozpin admitted, "Do you have any thoughts as to why he acts this way?"

"Several," she answered.

"For one, I think it's due to his experiences in his world," Glynda began to explain. "From what he told us, Mister Arisato is used to fighting monsters, so his abilities and combat experience stems from indiscriminately killing his opponents."

"But in training with his fellow students, he holds back, or simply doesn't expand on what he already knows." Ozpin finished.

"Yes, the most they get out of him is his testing of his abilities along with aura." Glynda continued.

"How is he progressing with his aura anyhow?"

"He still hasn't found his Semblance, but he is making use of the natural protection," she answered, "in all honesty, the boy is a natural."

"I see, and how does he compare to our resident champion?"

"There isn't a comparison to consider," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Miss Nikos is leagues above him regarding combat. The boy may be natural, but she is a prodigy, a genius. Able to adapt to nearly every situation she's put in, her Semblance is cleverly hidden, and hasn't sustained a single injury since she started class."

"Is she a favorite of yours?"

"Simply stating the facts," she huffed.

"And what is the difference between the two, because it sounds to me as though they are both doing exceedingly well in your class, but Mister Arisato seems to have cause to worry?"

"I already told you, Mister Arisato holds back when he's fighting his peers and Miss Nikos doesn't. By holding back, he's essentially putting everyone at risk, due to his rank as the extra/reserve member of the year. No one truly knows how he stands amongst his peers. They don't doubt his skill in the least."

"But they feel a certain level of distrust because of that." Ozpin finished

Glynda nodded.

"While Miss Nikos has used her full abilities against all of her opponents, save one, since the beginning."

"She's the bar that they hold themselves too," Ozpin stated.

"Exactly." Glynda agreed.

"Her reputation as a champion aside, by not holding back against her fellow students and teammates she has given them a goal of strength to strive for, to reach."

Then Minato simply had to strive to win against his students truly. Ozpin didn't believe that the boy was weak, but he had seen some recordings in his classes. There was a small hint of brutality in his fighting style. Effective and centered around making one simple move to dominate the fight, but against actual people he would have trouble.

But Ozpin didn't think that Minato would truly have any problems if he asserted himself.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"It could be because summoning his 'Personas' involves him shooting himself in the head." She said.

Ozpin closed his eyes, "Yes I could see the problems with that, but the majority of his classmates have already seen him use that power of his. So why would he think of them being weary of him?"

Glynda shrugged. "It could be a multiple of reasons, unwilling to answer questions about the nature of his power, someone trying to copy him to achieve the same result and getting hurt, or he's just secretive."

"Or maybe his power is too much for them." Ozpin pointed out.

"Possibly," Glynda sighed, "We only know the nature of his power, not the limits of what he's capable of."

Ozpin had a pondering look on his face.

"I remember him saying that he gains a fraction of their power when he simply has them at the forefront of his mind, have you witnessed anything to give credibility to that?" Ozpin asked.

Glynda's eyes widened for a second, "Now that you mention it, there have been several times when during class his fighting style changed slightly."

"How so?"

"Normally his fighting style is calm and direct, waiting for opportune moments to strike and be efficient and deadly, offering little resistance after and keeping an opponent down, but has little regarding skill and variety."

"But in our last class." she continued, "He suddenly switched his style, relying more on feints and misdirection than anything else."

"Hmm…" Ozpin hummed. "That sounds like it."

"But earlier you told me that he has no desire to change his style of combat. Wouldn't this count?" He questioned.

"Normally yes," she answered. "But while there was a change, it was merely cosmetic in nature. He still puts forth no actual drive or effort more than necessary."

"I'm sorry Glynda, but it sounds as if this is a minor problem." Ozpin chided.

She narrowed her eyes.

"My class is not there for students to simply fight one another. It's to improve oneself and challenge their ability to face opponents stronger and faster than yourself and to overcome them." She lectured.

"If they don't challenge themselves then they won't challenge their classmates, making the unit as a whole worse for wear Ozpin."

"I understand Glynda, trust me I do." He said. "But we both have to remember that he told us that his power was splintered, he may simply be waiting to regain his full potential to truly test himself."

"That sounds like an excuse." She answered.

"Perhaps, but it is also a good reason."

She sighed. "I think it would be best if we dropped it for now."

"I agree," Ozpin nodded. "Now how about the other teams, have they been doing well?" he asked.

"Team RWBY as a whole is fine. They are all excellent fighters, and their respective fighting styles complement each other quite well." She said.

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on." Ozpin grinned.

She rolled her eyes.

" _But_ , they have very shoddy teamwork, and like Mr. Arisato have shown little improvement in the two weeks they have attended class."

"I was under the impression that they had become much friendlier to one another since the first few days they were a team, is that not the case?" he asked.

"It isn't that," Glynda corrected him. "It's that when I issue team or double battles unless Miss Rose is on the team, their teamwork is subpar at best. If the matches last for at least several minutes, then she will have come up with a, albeit very odd and convoluted, plan that has a near perfect success rate against all of the other students."

"Near perfect?" Ozpin questioned.

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"Ah yes, it would be difficult to defeat an opponent that can use your weapon against you." He reasoned.

"But back to Team RWBY, Miss Xiao Long is by far the strongest of all the students even without her semblance, but her incredibly reckless style of attack leads to a million openings. Miss Belladonna is an incredible feint artist and the most versatile of her team, but becomes too predictable with her moves and has difficulty working together sometimes. Miss Weiss has skill reminiscent of her older sister, and I would dare say she isn't far behind her, but her inflated ego makes her take chances that she isn't able to properly handle as of yet. And Miss Rose, while a decent leader despite her age, is too impulsive and her fighting style while effective and dangerous relies too heavily on her momentum."

"She isn't strong enough to use her scythe?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, she isn't strong enough to use it to its full potential. If she loses her balance, she becomes vulnerable for too long."

"It seems they have some things to work on." Ozpin summarized. "But let's move on, How is team JNPR?"

"Overall they have the best team synergy," Glynda admitted. "Mister Arc, amazing as it is, has an excellent strategic mind, even better than Miss Rose in fact. Where he lacks in physical ability like his classmates, he makes up in intelligence."

"Which is surprising considering that he is doing merely decent in his other classes." She muttered.

"Now Glynda there's no need for that," Ozpin said. "Mister Arc has improved significantly since he arrived at Beacon, and his strategic mind seems to be a strong point."

"You know why I don't… _didn't_ approve of him being here."

"The young man sought to improve himself and was willing to go to the lengths to do that."

"By lying his way into Beacon in the first place, the fool could have died." She said, sounding exasperated.

"But he didn't and is on his way to becoming a fine leader," Ozpin said, a playful gleam in his eye. "Honestly I think you have mixed opinions about him because you didn't catch his fake transcripts first."

"That isn't true." She huffed, though her attitude proved otherwise.

"Of course not, but let's move on." He said getting back to the task at hand.

"You've already heard my thoughts on Miss Nikos and Mister Arc. Miss Valkyrie is a brute straight and simple. She overpowers almost everyone through sheer force and immense defense. However, she has little to no skill and relies on her natural abilities, making her liable to mistakes. Mister Ren seems to fall flat in combat, but that's to be expected since he cannot rely on his semblance, but his combination of speed and skill allows him to normally outmaneuver his opponents… when his teammates aren't distracting." She said almost sounding exasperated.

"I see, well they seem well rounded enough, and what about Team CRDL?"

"Bullies and fools for the most part." She said no remorse in her tone whatsoever.

"I seem to recall an incident involving the trip to the forever falls," Ozpin noted. "I take it your opinion comes from there?"

"It isn't just that, they're disruptive in all of their classes, regularly bully students, and are cowards. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that they can fight competently and have the least amount of issues working together and on their own, I would have petitioned they leave already."

"So there is some hope for them after all," Ozpin said.

"Barely," she hissed.

Ozpin looked at his watch. "Well I guess that's the end of our morning talk, I believe you have a class in 10 minutes."

She sighed. "Alright, I'll talk to you later." She turned and buried her face into the notepad in her hand and left.

Ozpin pulled up his notepad and took a sip of his morning coffee ready for the day to begin.

 _~Break~_

It had been a somewhat exciting two weeks since Minato had begun attending beacon. Most notably that during a class trip to the Forever Falls, an oddly red forest, Jaune Arc had single-handedly killed an Ursa.

The boy was noteworthy for being the worst combatant out of his class. It reminded him of how Junpei used to fight. Minato's best friend was an excellent baseball player, his natural height and strength gave him a great advantage in the field. Unfortunately, that didn't travel over to fighting with a sword. Luckily he had Hermes to aid him, the Persona of the ancient Greek God made up for his shortcomings with his ability to fight was on par with Akihiko.

Unfortunately, Jaune didn't have that crutch.

From what Minato understood all of the students at Beacon had some formal training to arrive at the school. This explained why all of them were able to fight with monsters and each other with incredibly convoluted weaponry.

Minato suspected that Jaune did not. But he left it alone; it wasn't his place to call out others or perceived suspicions. And it was obvious that the boy was seriously trying to improve as he took every loss in Professors Glynda's class to heart.

He had thought of talking to him on several occasions. Remembering what Blake said about him being 'everyone's teammate' but ultimately decided against it. Minato noticed Jaune was still uncomfortable around him.

Minato understood why, but he wouldn't press it.

Unfortunately, he had become a target for bullying by Team CRDL.

The team was as stereotypical as bullies could be. They were racist to Faunus, people with animal traits. Bullied those weaker than them and shirked away from those who could fight back. And it just so happened Jaune fit the second criteria.

He had refused help from his teams, and they obliged.

After all in a school that trains its students to fight monsters in the real world, how are you supposed to survive if you can't handle schoolyard bullies?

But killing the Ursa must have given him the confidence boost he needed. He was no longer waving and flailing around with his sword during combat classes. Pyrrha had offered to train Jaune, and they seemed a bit closer as if there was a secret beholden to only the two of them. He was long ways from being strong compared to his teammates, but he was getting better.

Then things picked up again when Professor Glynda initiated team battles. Battles along the line of 2v2, 4v4, and 1v3 were given every other class. What made it interesting was that just because one of them was in the team battle, it didn't mean that everyone would be with their personal teams.

Minato had assumed this was for everyone to get used to working together with others on the fly to simulate random occurrences. Which made sense, while the purpose of teams was to learn how to function as a group and make bonds with those around you, sometimes teammates won't be around, or they will be complete strangers. This could also be to test out how individuals work with one another when the situation calls for it.

It was during this that both Jaune and Ruby shined.

The two respective leaders were different in their little ways. But both were excellent when the situation called for strategic battle. Both of them have the highest win rate out of the class regarding team battles.

Which surprised Minato because of how different their tactics were.

Jaune was the analytical sort. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of his team and enemies. Able to come up with a plan in minutes and be executed near flawlessly. Ruby, however, took much longer to make her plans, but due to their elaborate nature and requirement of intense acrobatic feats, it was no wonder.

In short, Jaune made plans that would work for the moment for the situation at hand to end the battle quickly. While Ruby would make elaborate plans that would ensure victory for a variety of situations.

But other than that Beacon was quite ordinary, as ordinary as a school that trains teenagers to fight monsters could be.

Classes were quite enjoyable despite their teachers quirks.

Port, while a bit boisterous, was an expert in his subject. Through him, Minato learned where there were chinks in Ursa's armor. Where a Beowolf would attack first. And what other types of Grimm there were.

Though Oobleck was invaluable as a teacher to him. Minato was stuck in a world that was almost completely different from his. The world where he had zero knowledge of its history, its countries, beliefs, and ways of life. Through Oobleck he learned all that he could, Minato refused to remain ignorant of this new world.

Minato learned that Remnant has four kingdoms. Vale, the country where Minato currently resides in, Vacuo to the west, Atlas to the north, and Mistral to the east.

Minato also learned of the timeline of Remnant. From the ancient times where myths and legends are tales with the only certain truth is that humanity fought against the Grimm for survival, where they discovered dust and its uses and the four kingdoms were founded.

The Great War that involved all of the kingdoms, their version of a World War Minato assumed. From what he understood about it was that there were a million reasons as to why the war started, but what seemed to be its greatest threat was its attack on individualism. With each country treating its people as tools for the war.

When the war ended, and the four kingdoms agreed to peace, the previous generation made a promise. That their children would become individuals, that they would be given names for them and to them only. Which explains the colorful names Minato had heard while in this world.

Unfortunately without the focus on Grimm and nationality people turned their attention to Faunus.

Humans for a large part of history treated Faunus as animals. Thus causing major discrimination for several decades.

Minato could understand this reasoning, but he didn't agree with it. As far as Minato was concerned, there was little difference between humans and Faunus other than their physical attributes. From what he had seen at Beacon they laughed, yelled, and got angry the same ways humans do.

Unfortunately, humanity, as it is an inherently decent species, is just as cruel and prejudiced. Minato was no stranger to racist and bigots; those people came from a life built around preconceptions and being raised by those who held opinions based on hatred rather than decency. Seeing people with animal parts and traits would naturally give way to jealousy over said abilities and disgust at being different.

So after their victory in the Faunus rights revolution, the Faunus people were able to live side by side with humans. Unfortunately, racism persists and prejudice does not die easily.

Thus led to the creation of the White Fang. A group that was made to be a peaceful organization that symbolized the unity of humans and Faunus. That was apparently abandoned due to persisting prejudice and has instead become a group of terrorist fighting for Faunus rights.

But he was being given information by a predominately human school, and he had never personally interacted with any White Fang member or another Faunas for a large amount of time. So Minato would keep an open mind for the time being.

Minato felt a sense of ease, though. He had been concerned that this world would be too different from his own. But humanity here is familiar and a history of humanity dedicated to fighting for survival, to live, gave Minato a small measure of satisfaction.

 _~Break~_

"Explain to me why we're doing this again?" Weiss asked, annoyance and suspicion creeping into her tone.

"Like I said, Weiss." Ruby began, the team leader skipping happily along the hallway dorms. "As Leader of Team RWBY it is my leaderly duty to be sure of the wellbeing of each member of my team," she said matter-of-factly tone as they walked down the student dorm hallway.

"Yeah I got that," Weiss said sounding annoyed, "But why are we going to his room? He isn't even on our team."

"Technically he's on every team." Blake cut in.

"He's a _reserve_ member, whatever that means, that doesn't mean he's part of _our_ team," Weiss argued.

"Besides you already said that," Yang said off-handedly.

"Because it's true," Blake answered. "Ozpin already said he's here to train us in working with others outside of our team."

"Which we can already do with our other classmates," Weiss argued back. "I mean honestly him being here is already too weird."

"Whaddya mean?" Yang asked one eyebrow comically raised up.

"He appears out of nowhere. Summons a weird robot by shooting himself. Gets shoehorned into the Team ceremony. And is suddenly introduced as a new learning tool?" She listed off counting her fingers. "Doesn't this sound weird to any of you?"

"A little…" Yang admitted. "But _I_ think you're annoyed that he won't use his robot thingy when he fights more than anything." Smiling seeing her friend blush with anger.

"Like you're any different!" She yelled. "I remember your last match against him when you asked him to summon it," A smirk appeared on the heiress' face. "How did you say it again?" she mockingly pondered.

"H-hey, wait a sec…" Yang tried to interrupt.

"Oh yeah, I remember now! You said, hey shoot yourself already man!" In a bad imitation of the blonde's voice.

Which caused Ruby and Blake to chuckle.

"You knew what I meant!" Yang yelled back blushing now herself.

"You sounded like you wanted him to kill himself," Blake added.

"Shut it you!" The blonde yelled.

"But getting back to the original issue," Blake ignored the boisterous blonde, "There is something mysterious about him I'll admit that."

"Thank you," Weiss said.

Finally at least one of them were seeing some sense.

"But that doesn't mean he isn't part of the team." Blake finished.

"Oh for the love of…" Weiss said, sounding exasperated. "So were just going to roll with it? No solving the mystery of the new transfer student, no finding out his hidden and dark secrets, or even figuring out whether or not he's a real person?"

"…What?" Ruby said, her head cocked to the side.

"I think she's naming off story clichés," Blake said to their confused leader.

"C'mon Weiss, this is real life," Yang said. "Not one of those TV shows or books with all those weird mysteries and junk." Her voice took a teasing tone and smiled at her teammate. "Or are you hoping that Minato's secretly a prince that's going to whisk you away if you discover his _secret_."

"W-What… you… how dare you even!" Weiss stammered, her face slowly becoming the shade of a tomato.

Ruby came between her sister and new BFF.

"Whoa-k, that's enough," Ruby said calmly. "We're losing sight of our object here people!"

"To spy on Minato." Blake deadpanned.

Ruby blushed. "To check on our reserve member and make sure that he is living in a safe manner as well as making sure his belongings are being well taken care of." She reasoned.

"So… spying." Blake said again.

Ruby's head fell. "…yes."

"But I don't get it," Yang said scratching her head.

"Oh, that's new," Weiss smirked.

"Shut it," Yang said just as quick. "But seriously, why do you wanna spy on him Ruby?"

"Well." Ruby started tapping her fingers together. "He seems lonely y'know? Like he barely talks to anyone, even at lunch when we sit with him he never really says anything. He goes to class, eats lunch, then he just goes to his room."

She turned back to her team. "I thought that maybe if we could learn something about him, then maybe he wouldn't be so lonely."

Her friends looked at Ruby in surprise at what they're leader had said. Until Yang rushed up and embraced her little sister.

"Oh!" Yang squealed. "I have the most thoughtful and sweetest little sister in the world!"

"Yang!" Ruby struggled to say. "Crushing. Lungs."

"Oh" She let go of her sister and Ruby fell to the floor. "Sorry."

Weiss helped their leader up from the floor.

"Thanks, besty," Ruby said.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Besty!" Ruby said excitedly. "You know, your best friend, BFF, amigos for life."

"Oh…" Weiss said unsure of what to think. "Thank… you?"

"Your welcome." Ruby nodded. She knew Weiss would come around. That advice Minato had given her had worked. "Let's go!"

But there was another reason Ruby wanted to sp- check up on Minato. After talking to him about Weiss and becoming a leader he had given her some really good words of encouragement. But… there was something more to that. It was like Ruby made a connection with Minato.

She knew that sounded weird, which is why she hadn't said any of this to Yang. Ruby loved her sister; Yang was the best sister in the world no contest. But Yang was also an impossible tease. There was one time when Ruby had gotten a gift from one the boys in her class when she was like 10 and Yang teased her for six months.

But that's what it was. She knew that after that moment she had made friends with Minato. And all things considered, he was a pretty cool friend. He didn't talk much, but whenever he did, it was always something super smart or wise. He was a strong fighter too; he's the only one in their class that's able to go against Pyrrha for more than a minute.

Ruby lasted a total of 48 seconds her last match, beating Weiss' 45 seconds.

And he's cool. Like that cool and distant loner type with a heart of gold that you see on TV or in comic books.

Ruby liked him. But not like, _like_ him. He was like the big brother Ruby always wanted. Well never realized she wanted it until she wanted it. That made sense right?

Which was why she, and by extension Team, RWBY, was going to his room.

She wanted to know more about Minato. He barely spoke to anyone and never went out of his way to interact and hang out with everyone. Though that might be because of Jaune and Weiss' suspicion around him. Weiss believed there was something mysterious about him, and Ruby remembered Weiss talking to herself about how he summoned or something. And Jaune was just uncomfortable around him.

That might be because the first time they saw Minato, he shot himself in the head. Even Ruby was still a little crept out by it, even after Minato explained how it worked.

But they'd come around once they took the chance to talk to Minato.

It was so simple. Go to his room, see what he had around his room. Things he liked to watch, or read. Then leave without Minato none the wiser and bring up the stuff he likes.

Simple.

"And here we are!" Ruby announced as they stopped at Minato's room door.

"This just occurred to me," Blake said to her leader. "But there's a problem."

"Hmm," Ruby cocked her head to the side. "What problem?"

Blake pointed to the door. More specifically at the card swipe lock on the door.

Every dorm room at Beacon Academy had an ID swipe card for the members of the Team sharing the room. The ID's were made for specific rooms for obvious reasons.

"How are we going to get in?" Blake asked.

"Oh, I got this." Yang slammed her fist into her palm.

"What? No!" Ruby grabbed her sister's hand and put it down. "Bad Yang, bad Yang," Ruby said almost like she was talking to a dog.

"Then how the heck are we going to get in?" Yang asked.

"Uh, Duh." Ruby lifted her hand and pulled out her ID Key. "I'm using this."

Blank and deadpanned looks surrounded the leader of Team RWBY.

"What?" Ruby said utterly confused.

"Ruby." Weiss pinched her nose. "You do realize those only work for our room's right?"

Ruby nodded her head. "Yeah Weiss, everyone knows that."

"And you don't see the problem here?" Blake said.

Ruby blinked and leaned back as if she was expecting to get yelled at. "No?"

"Then please, by all means," Weiss started. "Explain to us how you're going to get into the room with a key that…"

Weiss stopped cold when she saw their leader swipe her ID key into the scanner of the door. Then hear the approval beep and the multiple locks being unlocked.

"…doesn't fit the… door." Weiss finished flabbergasted that the door opened.

"How did you do that?" Blake asked, also stunned by what happened.

"I have a Team Leader key." Ruby held up her ID key.

ID keys all looked the same in Beacon. They had the holder's name, year, a picture, and on the back held the magnetic strip that allowed the students into school facilities. However, each leader of a team in Beacon had a slightly different card, to separate them from the rest of the school. Every other student in Beacon had a white card; team leaders had black cards.

"Well, since Minato was a reserve member, and was going to work with everyone's teams. I asked Professor Ozpin if Minato counted as a member of Team RWBY. And he told me that he was officially a member of everyone in our year's team and some other stuff about choosing teams and other stuff. But, the point is that since I'm the leader of Team RWBY, and since he is _technically_ part of Team RWBY, I should be able to access his room."

"Y'know," Yang said putting her hands on her sides. "Sometimes I forget how smart you are little sis."

Ruby gave a bashful smile. It was nice to hear praise from Yang. Her sister was one of the strongest people she knew, behind her dad and uncle Qrow.

Nobody was stronger than Uncle Qrow.

"Alright Team RWBY!" Ruby announced. "Let us search the unknown and find the secrets of our reserve member!" Ruby opened the door and rushed into the room.

"So we're seriously doing this?" Weiss asked Blake.

Blake shrugged. "Seems like it."

"This isn't going to end well," Weiss admitted.

"Nope." Blake agreed. And walked into the room.

There weren't a lot of words that Ruby could use to describe Minato's room. Not that there weren't ways to describe it, there was, Spartan came to mind. It was just there wasn't much of anything to comment on.

It was the same size as everyone else's rooms in Beacon. But considering that only one person was using it, a lot of room was just space. There was one bed, the same as every other bed in Beacon. A desk right by the door with a lamp and some books from their other classes. The closet was partly open with school uniforms and the same outfit that Minato wore every day.

' _Come to think of it.'_ Ruby thought. _'Everyone here wears the same thing every day. Weird.'_

The room was neat. Way too neat for a teenager of any age. Ruby wasn't the neatest crayon in the box, but even she knew that nobody their age could be this neat. Blake was neat unless it came to books which littered the floor. Yang was a slob, simple and clean was not her forte. Weiss acted like she was all proper, but she was much more used to people cleaning up after her than cleaning, which Ruby found out the hard way.

' _How do you set fire to a dirty pile of laundry?!'_ Ruby reminisced.

But there was no mess. Everything was tidy, nothing was left out of place, and even the bathroom was tidy. Even then, it wasn't the almost perfect neatness of the place that surprised Ruby.

It was that there was nothing special in the room.

No posters. No extra books. No video games or TVs. No pictures. Nothing, there was nothing but what the school gave the students and his clothes. It was so weird. It looked more like on of those rooms that people show you during open houses, the ones that were fake and gave the appearance of what a home could look like.

It was bare and lifeless. This didn't feel like a home like Ruby's room had. It didn't feel like a warm place to rest and shake off the hardships of the day. No reminders of your past, nothing to enjoy while you relaxed on your days off. It was just a room.

"Well, this is…" Blake looked around the room trying to find the words. "…strange?"

"You got that right." Yang agreed. "I mean I was expecting something," she looked under his bed. "Not even any adult books."

"Really Yang?" Weiss glared at the blonde.

Yang shrugged. "Hey, at least it would've been something to talk about." Yang waved her hands around the room. "But there's nothing here. It's kinda creepy honestly."

"Creepier than sneaking into someone else's room?" Blake said.

Yang sighed. "Someday we're going to catch you saying something stupid." She looked at her friend who had a small smirk on her face.

"There has to be something," Ruby said while looking through his closet. "Maybe he has a super-secret safe hidden away to make sure people don't find his valuables.

Weiss looked at his desk, which was the only area in the room that wasn't perfectly ordered. Weiss moved to Minato's books and notes trying to find something.

Fine, she was curious too.

' _Huh? He already finished Oobleck's homework.'_ Weiss looked around the room making sure everyone was engrossed in their searches. _'Well… it's not like they won't mind me checking. It's for the team after all.'_

Weiss, subtly moved, the notes when she noticed that there was something else on the desk.

"What's this?" Weiss said and picked up the object. It was a key. It was blue. Actually, it was more of a violet blue, and it fit into the palm of her hand. But the oddest thing about it was the face at the end of the key. It was a black and white mask, like the ones she saw in theaters with her family, with triangles circling it.

There was something strange about the key. Weiss, couldn't place it, but it almost felt like she wasn't supposed to be holding the key. It wasn't that the key didn't belong to her, but something more. Something that she couldn't explain or feel.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

The sudden voice in her ears causes Weiss to jump into the air. She turned angrily to her teammate; her face is flushed at the current reaction.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Weiss yelled.

"Sorry Weiss." Ruby apologized and rubbed her head, and turned to the key again. "You found something?"

"Uh… yeah." Weiss said looking back at the key. "I found this key in his notes… which I wasn't reading!"

"O…K?" Ruby responded, weirded out by Weiss' sudden outburst.

"What going on?" Yang asked, walking over to her teammates. "Ooh, a key!" She walked up and snatched the key from Weiss and held it close to her face.

"H-Hey!" Weiss shouted. "Rude, Xiao Long!"

"Calm down ice queen."

"Hey!"

"I'm just looking at the key," Yang said turning the key around. Finding nothing different she looked to Ruby and Blake. "You guys find something that needs a key?" She was met with head shakes. "Bummer." Yang sighed.

"Maybe it's not for his room?" Ruby asked. "Maybe the keys for something else, like a secret club or something?" Ruby looked at her sister who had visited several clubs, most of them nighttime, in the last few years. "Yang, you have any idea?"

"Sorry little sis," Yang answered, befuddled by the key. "No club I know uses this key."

Ruby sighed and deflated. They had found something in the room, but had no idea what it led to.

"Maybe it isn't a key for anything." Blake brought up. Her team looked at her awaiting her follow up. "It might just be a keepsake. Remember he's from far away, this might just be a reminder of where he came from."

"That… makes sense." Weiss admitted. "Great! Now I feel bad."

Yang smirked. "Or maybe it's a key to his soul. How romantically cliché would that be?"

"Pretty big," Blake answered. "Whenever a key is put into a romance novel it's linked to another's love or soul."

"Whoa seriously!" Yang laughed. "I was just joking, but man that's funny."

"Hmmmm." Ruby rubbed her chin thinking hard. "Hmmmmmmmm."

"You ok there Ruby?" Yang asked.

Ruby suddenly slammed down her fist into her palm. "Eureka!"

"Uh, Ruby?" Blake said.

"Not now Blake, I think I figured it out." Ruby began pacing around the room. "The key isn't to Minato's soul, but it is a part of Minato."

"Ruby," Blake said again.

"The key is actually to be used _on_ Minato. Why you may ask?" Ruby stopped in front of her teammates. "Because Minato is secretly a robot!"

"Ruby you really need to…" Blake tried to continue.

"Not now Blake. Anyway, Minato was created by Professor Ozpin to be the perfect Hunter. But because he was a robot he was unable to understand why people act and think, he didn't understand why he had to fight to protect humanity! So Ozpin sent him to join our class and interact with people so that he can better understand the world and make friends!" They could almost see the monocle and pipe. "And the key is used by Ozpin to check his vitals and memories of the day, but where does he put the key?" Ruby looked back at her team. "Now that is the true mystery."

"Then why don't you ask him?" Blake deadpanned and pointed behind Ruby.

Ruby, Yang, and Weiss turned towards the door to see the figure standing in the door.

Minato raised an eyebrow at the four girls that were in his room. Ruby, faster than the eye could see, put away her monocle and pipe, and gave a nervous smile at Minato. The other girls had their ways of reacting to his presence. Blake closed her eyes, and Minato could guess she was contemplating using her clones to escape. Yang had the same bashful smile as her sister but was edging to move behind the other girls, which would work had she not been a foot taller than all of them. Weiss, well she looked embarrassed.

Minato waited and said nothing. Mostly out of surprise. Surprise that they were in his room in the first place. And surprise at Ruby's explanation for his Velvet key. At the moment he was debating which was the most surprising. How insane and random her story was, or how close she was to the actual truth.

The silence continued for a long and strenuous minute until Minato decided to break the silence.

He looked at Ruby and almost felt himself sigh. "A robot?"

Ruby's face became the same color as her name. "Oh, u-uh well you know, I thought it sounded cool," Ruby said.

"I see," Minato answered, then looked back at the entire group. "How did you get in my room?" Minato asked.

Yang instantly pointed at her sister. "Ruby did it! All her fault, her idea, we were just dragged along!"

"Yang!" Ruby yelled. "Don't blame everything on me you snooped through his room too!"

"What are you talking about?" Yang questioned. "Weiss, we got dragged into this by Ruby right?"

"Hah! If you think Weiss is going to betray me, then you have another thing coming…"

"Absolutely." Weiss cut Ruby off, not looking at her shattered leader's face. "We were under orders to sneak into your room and search for things by Ruby; it's all her fault."

"You looked through his notes, you traitor!" Ruby yelled.

"Because you told us to look through everything!" Weiss yelled back. "I was just being thorough and following my leader's orders." She huffed.

"Wahhh!" Ruby yelled, rushed to Blake, and knelt down to her last teammate's legs. "Blake! Please don't abandon me too!"

Blake looked down at her fallen leader, looked to her other two teammates who looked back at her expectantly. And looked at the boy in the door, whose face hadn't changed since he entered the room.

"Ruby wanted to find something in your room so that we would know more about you," Blake answered. "We agreed to help, Weiss looked through your notes, and Yang was trying to find pornography."

Ruby couldn't tell what was more surprising. That Blake had said everything with a straight face. Hers and the rest of her teams faces. Or that Minato's only reaction had been to blink… _twice_.

"And you?" Minato asked.

Blake shrugged. "I wanted to know what kind of books you liked to read."

Minato nodded and looked at the four girls.

"If you wanted to come over, you could have asked." He said. "Also," he looked back at Ruby. "You still didn't answer my question."

"Oh, right." Ruby got up and took out her ID key. "I have a team leader ID key. And since you're part of Team RWBY I thought I could use my key to enter your room."

If Minato was faintly surprised by this, he did not show it on his face. "All of the team leaders can access my room?" Minato asked.

Ruby shrugged. "I think so; I was really just guessing."

"I see," Minato sighed.

Ruby was worried. This had backfired in the worst possible way. She had only planned on being here for several minutes; it usually took Minato a while to eat. But she should have been able to find what she was looking for and get out just as fast. But with the empty room and the mysterious key Ruby had found nothing and had been caught.

Would he be angry at her? Of course, he would, she just broke into his room with her team and went through all of his stuff. She had just wanted to relate to him more. He was nice, but for some reason, Ruby felt sad to see him alone. This room was sad it was like someone didn't even live here.

Ruby didn't know what to do, so she did nothing and waited.

Minato looked at Team RWBY. His face showing neither anger nor confusion. Just that calm and blank face he always wore. Then he focused on Weiss, or more specifically what Weiss was holding.

Minato walked towards the heiress and held out his hand. "Can I please have my key back?"

Weiss blinked, then blinked again. "O-Oh! Right. Sorry." She handed the blue key back to Minato who placed it back on his desk.

"If you wanted to visit me or see my room," Minato said turning back to them. "You could have just asked."

A collective sigh came from the four girls.

"Whew!" Yang let out. "I thought you were going to be pissed or something."

"Why would I be mad?" Minato asked.

"We did just break into your room without permission," Blake added. "Most people would get angry at that."

"Blake!" Weiss hissed. "Not helping!"

Minato shrugged. "Nothing was stolen," He looked around his room. "My room isn't a mess. And I'd have much rather people I know going into my room unannounced than strangers."

"You are way to calm about this," Weiss said, almost sounding annoyed that he wasn't angry at them. "Like, scary calm."

"That's a relief," Ruby said, her fears put to rest. "I'm sorry about this." She looked at her team. "We were just trying to find out more about you; I thought that maybe if I found something we could talk about we could relate more y'know?"

Ruby looked up and almost thought she saw a ghost of a smile on Minato's lips.

"You could have just talked to me," Minato said.

"Well… yeah, but you're not exactly the easiest person to find stuff to talk about." Ruby said. "I mean you never talk about where you're from, what you like, what you don't like. I mean you only really talk to us if we involve you."

"I see," Minato nodded. "I'm sorry then. I have been distant with everyone, but I should be attempting to bond with everyone here more than I have been."

"So…" Yang drawled. "What now?"

"We still have some time before classes start," Blake said. "We could talk here."

"Great idea Blake!" Ruby said. "I can announce Mission Discover a complete success!"

"What?" Weiss said.

"We were on a mission?" Yang asked.

Ruby nodded. "Of course, why do you think we're all here? Our first espionage mission went off without a hit and our objective was met." Ruby explained sounding proud of herself.

"But, we were caught." Blake butted in. "Wouldn't that mean we failed our espionage mission."

Ruby's grin shattered off of her face and was replaced with confusion. "Uh, well, I guess so if you put it like that."

"And how else would you put it?" Weiss asked mockingly.

"Uhhhhh…." Ruby stalled trying to find an answer.

"So what?" Yang said bring Ruby in a side armed hug. "All's well that ends well right?"

Minato nodded, moved to his desk, put his bags down, and sat down in his chair.

He looked at them and waited.

"So…," Weiss said awkwardly. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure," Minato said. Ruby could automatically tell that it was true.

"Hey, it can't be that hard to have a conversation," Yang said nonchalantly. "You must have talked with your first team a bunch right?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, we talked about many things."

"Then what's so hard about this?" Yang asked.

Minato looked like he was almost lost in thought. "I'm used to being that one that is talked to, not the one that initiate's conversations."

"The 'speak when spoken to' type?" Blake asked.

Minato nodded.

"Well if that's the case I'll start the conversation," Yang announced and motioned towards the room. "What's up with this?"

Minato frowned, it was the first time Ruby had ever seen him do that. "What do you mean?"

"Seriously?" Yang questioned. "Dude, there's like nothing in here. You've got no posters, no books, nothing. What's up with that?"

"Yeah, it is strange," Weiss added. "If it weren't for those books and your clothes I wouldn't have thought anyone even lived here."

Minato shrugged. "I like to live simply."

"There's living simple, and then there's this." Yang motioned to the room. "You really need to decorate this room man."

"How would I do that?" Minato asked.

"Well for starters, you should get a couch," Ruby said, contributing to the conversation.

Minato looked at the red leader. "A couch?"

"Yeah! So that when we visit we have somewhere to sit." Ruby explained. "We'd also need a table so that we could all work on homework and projects together."

She turned to Blake. "Any ideas?"

"A bookshelf for one," Blake answered, and pointed to the right side of his desk. "Right there would be best. We'd also need more chairs in case other people came over."

"Wait a minute," Minato started to say.

"Oh! And a mini-fridge for snacks would be awesome." Yang added. "That way we wouldn't have to leave for snack breaks."

"Good thinking Yang!" Ruby gave a thumbs up to her sister who replied with a thumbs up of her own. "What about you Weiss? Any ideas?"

"Hmm?" Weiss tapped her chin. "It could use a TV or at least a radio set. Something to liven up the room."

"That's my girl!" Ruby praised Weiss, which brought a proud smile to the heiress' face.

"Excuse me." Minato raised his hand. The girls turned to him. "You're making my room into a club room."

"That's a great idea Minato!" Ruby exclaimed. "We can use your room to hang out with everyone in our year! We could hold study groups and have parties, talk about how the teachers always get mad at us when we accidentally break something."

"I don't think that's what he meant Ruby," Blake said, interrupting her leader's train of thought.

"Huh?" Ruby titled her head in confusion.

"I think she meant, that he meant, that we're taking over his room," Weiss explained.

"Oh…" She looked sheepishly at Minato. "Sorry Minato, I got carried away there."

Minato shrugged. "It's fine." He looked around the empty room. "But, if you want to help me decorate my room I would gladly accept your help."

"See, now wasn't that easy," Yang said to her little sister. "Now that that's over with, I think we should head to class, or Professor Glynda will have a fit."

They girls left his room one by one with Ruby waving goodbye to him as they left.

"You didn't ask about the key," Blake said to Ruby as they walked to combat class.

Ruby shrugged. "I thought it might've been a little personal to him. You don't ask people their deepest, darkest, secrets right off the bat right?"

Blake nodded and looked away from Ruby. Ruby didn't know what her friend was thinking, but for a second Blake looked like she was frowning.

"Right."

 _~Break~_

"Ruby Rose VS. Jaune Arc."

The collective wince from the crowd was only surpassed by the snickering of Team CRDL as Glynda announced the first combatants of the day.

So far the day was going great for Jaune. He had gotten an A on his homework for Oobleck, thanks to Pyrrha, and even took down around 80% of what the man had said in class. He had gotten a B in one of Port's pop quizzes, and they were serving Lasagna in the cafeteria today.

So naturally when it came to his worse class he was going to get his karmic justice. Jaune had been doing better in his Combat and Aura training, thanks again Pyrrha, and had been able to last more than 20 seconds in the ring.

He still wasn't anywhere near the level of everyone else in the room. Well, maybe against some of Team CRDL. Ever since he killed the Ursa last week, the gang of bullies had thought twice about picking on him. Even with what Cardin had on him.

But against anyone else from Team RWBY or his team, Jaune didn't stand a chance. Unless it was a team fight, then he stood a chance.

Jaune looked over to Ruby and gave her a defeated smile. Ruby gave her smile and went down into the arena.

"Now Mr. Arc," Glynda said to the still boy.

"R-Right! Sorry, I'm going." Jaune stammered and began walking down the stairs thinking to himself.

' _Ok let's look at the facts. Ruby is a lightning bruiser; she uses speed and force to win her fights. Crescent Rose is a Scythle with incredible range and great stopping power. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide much of defense, just a large amount of offense with incredible speed. I can block her shots with Crocea Mors, but her scythe can reach right past it unless I time it right. There's no way I can hit her straight on; I'll need her to get close to me, but she's smart, so I'll only have one chance at it. She'll underestimate me, use that to my advantage. Bait her maybe? No that would never work, not unless…"_

By the time Jaune was done thinking he was already facing Ruby. She had Crescent Rose out in a standby stance. He took Crocea Mors out, making sure he was looking defensive and nervous. Well… not so much _looking_ nervous and more being nervous.

"Sorry Jaune," Ruby said in her innocent voice. "I'll go easy on you ok."

"Easy fight sis!" Jaune heard Yang yell from the bleachers.

"Hey!" Jaune yelled to the blonde.

"She's not wrong!" Weiss agreed.

"Don't listen to them Jaune!" Nora screamed out. "You can… uh…. I got nothing, Ren?"

"Nora!" Jaune whined.

"He's going to lose." Ren calmly stated.

"Ren!"

"I believe in you Jaune!" Pyrrha cheered.

"At least Pyrrha won't abandon me." Jaune lamented over Team CRDL's laughing. "Really hate those guys."

"Same." Ruby agreed.

"Ahem." Glynda not so subtly coughed. "I believe two certain students are supposed to be dueling?"

"Sorry." Ruby and Jaune said at the same time.

"Good, well begin!" Glynda slapped her wand down, and the buzzer went off.

"I'll end this as fast as I can Jaune!" Ruby said getting ready to launch at Jaune.

' _Now's my chance!'_ Jaune thought.

"Sure you will," Jaune said in the smuggest voice he could think of. "I bet you won't even be able to scratch my breastplate with that scythe."

' _Take the bait. Take the bait. Take the bait. Take the bait.'_ Jaune thought furiously.

Ruby narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Is that so."

Jaune readied himself, and in a blink of an eye, Ruby rushed towards him using her semblance in a shower of rose petals. Now was his only chance, she took the bait. Jaune's biggest problem was her rifle if she just used that there was no way he would be able to beat her, the problems of not having a gun blade, let alone her massive speed. So he needed her to attack him with the scythe. So bet that she can't hit him with the Scythe.

Ruby was smart. But she was also a lot younger than everyone else at Beacon, not that it said that much, to be honest. However she had an inflated ego, not as much as her sisters but it was still there, which meant it could be exploited.

She appeared right above him and swung Crescent rose down. But Jaune was already prepared and caught the descending scythe on his shield. In those few moments Jaune swung his sword up and directed them at Ruby's arms.

It wouldn't have taken her arms. Heck, it probably wouldn't have scratched them considering Jaune's strength. But Jaune was betting on something else.

Everyone has a natural fear of losing their body parts. Right after the faces, hearts, and personal areas, people really don't want to lose their limbs. So while the blade wouldn't have hurt Ruby, the sword still coming at one's arms would still be frightening. Seeing a sword about to chop off your arms would make most people pull away from where the sword was.

Which is exactly what Ruby did.

She let go of Crescent Rose and jumped back in another burst of speed and rose petals. Jaune, taking advantage of the situation, dropped his sword and took Crescent Rose. Using the momentum it had when it was falling, Jaune threw the gigantic scythe outside of the ring. Where it hit the side of the wall and sunk into the stone.

The silence in the room was so heavy Jaune almost felt crushed.

He picked up Crocea Mors and looked from Crescent Rose back to Ruby's stunned face.

"It worked," Jaune whispered. "I can't believe I pulled it off!" Jaune whooped and jumped in the air.

In one of his earlier lessons with Pyrrha, she had told him that one of the most useful ways to take down an enemy would be to disarm them. And to make her point she disarmed Jaune multiple times in their lesson.

38 times in a row to be exact.

So in his reverie of actually pulling off his plan. Jaune failed to notice the speeding red form coming straight towards him.

Jaune turned at the last second. Only to regret it, as a boot enhanced by a super speed semblance landed firmly into Jaune's chest and knocked him off of his feet and onto the ground.

There was a lesson in this, Jaune realized. The first being doesn't turn your back on an opponent and the second being celebrate after winning the match.

Jaune was able to pull himself up, with no small amount of groaning, and faced Ruby again. She looked angry, which caused Jaune to remember that besides her sister a certain weapon was the greatest love of the red leader.

Jaune was now having second guesses about tricking Ruby.

Ruby rushed Jaune again. In a desperate move, on his part, Jaune brought up his shield to take the brunt of the force. Unfortunately for Jaune, Ruby wasn't going for the same attack twice. Ruby instantly dashed behind Jaune and grabbed his arm. Unbalanced by the feint added with the speed of her attack allowed Ruby to twist Jaune in the air and slam him into the ground.

"That's gonna leave a mark!" Cardin laughed.

Jaune didn't know if it was just a reaction, or if it was part of Pyrrha's training, but after the initial shock of being slammed into the ground, Jaune grabbed Ruby's leg. Not knowing what to do, Jaune tried to get up.

Only for Ruby to kick him in the chest again. The air left his lungs, and in pained words, he turned to Professor Glynda.

"I give up." Jaune quaked, struggling to get his breath again and let go of Ruby's leg.

Glynda nodded, and Ruby jumped away from Jaune to get Crescent Rose and returned to the ring for Glynda's after the battle lesson.

Jaune got up and stood to face the teacher while holding his chest.

"Are you alright Mr. Arc?" Glynda asked.

"Yeah." Jaune nodded, still holding his chest. "I'm good, just let me catch my breath."

"Very well." Glynda waited.

Jaune looked up at the large screen above them. His Aura hadn't gone into the red, in fact, it was just barely in the yellow, so a step up. But Ruby didn't have a dent in her aura bar. But on the plus side, the match lasted for a whopping minute and a half that was something to be proud of.

Right?

"Ms. Rose." Glynda began.

"Yes, ma'am." Ruby nodded, putting Crescent Rose away.

"Can you tell me what you did wrong in this match?" Glynda asked.

"I… uh, lost my weapon?" Ruby asked, a small amount of shame reaching her face and gave a miffed look at Jaune.

"And _how_ did you lose your weapon?" Glynda elaborated.

Ruby looked down. "Jaune baited me into attacking him up close."

"Exactly," Glynda answered. "Not only did you accept such an obvious ploy, but you let your pride get to you. Mr. Arc is, to be honest, the least capable fighter in your class."

Jaune's demeanor became sullen from the brutal honesty of his teacher.

"However," Glynda added. "Over the last few days, he has shown at least some form of improvement. He has also shown an ability to make tactful decisions in the team battles. If you constantly underestimate your opponent for one specific flaw, then you will never be able to advance as a huntress."

Ruby looked down again. "Yes, ma'am."

"Even so," Glynda continued. "Losing your weapon did not hamper you, and you were able to adapt to the situation at hand. Using your semblance and superior combat prowess to win the match, and to that, I will admit that it was well done."

Ruby's face brightened from the praise. "Thank ma'am!"

Glynda nodded. Then turned to Jaune.

Jaune took a deep breath.

"Mr. Arc. You already know what I'm going to say don't you?" Glynda asked.

Jaune looked down. "Yeah, I got distracted."

Glynda nodded. "Exactly. While you have improved the last several days, you are still far behind the entire class regarding fighting capability. Making a premature celebration after one successful move will more often than not get you laid on your back like what just happened."

Jaune reached for his aching back and nodded in agreement.

"Right, yeah, no victory dance until getting a victory." Jaune agreed.

"But, manipulating an opponent and successfully disarming them is worth some praise. Especially to an opponent who is stronger and faster than you." Glynda admitted.

Jaune gave her a small smile. It was rare when Jaune got praise from a teacher, especially Glynda.

Jaune walked with Ruby back to their seats. All in all, it wasn't so bad, not good due to his back, but not that bad either.

"Sorry, I went a little violent there." Ruby apologized and gave him an embarrassed smile. "I was a little mad that you caught me like that, and… well."

"You were embarrassed that I made you let go of your scythle." Jaune finished. He looked at his fellow team leader as she lowered her head in shame.

Jaune knew that everyone here was better than him in fighting. He accepted that a long time ago. The thing is, when the weakest guy in class trips you up? Well, Jaune's been in high school and seen enough movies to know that hurts someone's pride.

Ruby looked to the side. "Yeah…"

Jaune patted his friend on the back. "Hey don't worry about it. I'm just glad I've been getting better at this."

"So… we're cool?" Ruby asked as they got to their seats.

"Course we are, high five?" Jaune brought up his hand.

Ruby laughed and gave him a high five. The one thing Glynda reminded them of was that they wouldn't bring reservation of their matches back into their daily lives. Especially inner team matches. It wouldn't be good to hold grudges, especially in their teams.

So as long as Cardin and his team weren't being jerks, which they always were, and nobody touched Yang's hair, everything was good.

"That was wonderful Jaune!" Pyrrha congratulated as Jaune sat down. "You were already instinctively moving your shield to where it needed to be for her downward strike. You really have been improving."

"Ah well," Jaune said while rubbing the back of his neck. "It's really all thanks to your training Pyrrha, if it weren't for you I would've already been on a stretcher out of here." He joked.

"Oh. My. Goodness! Jaune that was amazing." Nora butted in stopping Jaune from seeing Pyrrha's blushing face.

Nora was shaking Jaune's shoulders in enthusiasm "At first me and Ren."

"Ren and I," The martial artist corrected.

"Shush Ren." Nora waved away. "Anyway! You did great Jaune!"

"I still lost," Jaune admitted.

"Duh," Nora said obviously. "There was no way in heck you were going to beat Ruby, but you lasted more than half a minute! Way to go Jaune!"

"Something tells me that's not much of an accomplishment," Jaune replied.

"For you it is!" Nora answered still grinning from ear to ear.

"You did much better than I thought you would." Ren admitted.

"Gee. Thanks." Jaune replied.

Whether ignoring it or not realizing it was sarcasm Ren gave his friend a smile and nodded.

"So…" Pyrrha butted in, her face now a less shade of red. "Who do you think will be next?"

Everyone's gaze turned to the giant screen as it cycled through everyone's names.

"Lie Ren VS. Minato Arisato VS. Russel Thrush" Glynda announced.

"Good luck Ren." Pyrrha cheered as their friend left the seats.

"Kick their butts Ren!" Nora cheered.

"Good luck man!" Jaune joined in on the cheering.

Jaune looked over at Team CRDL and saw Russel give his team some high fives and fist bumps. Jaune didn't really know any of Team CRDL, not that he wanted to, but personality wise they were all pretty similar.

But what Jaune did know was that Russel liked taunting. He liked taunting a lot. Cardin was the physical bully, Dove was the cruel one, Sky played practical jokes, and Russel made fun of you mentally.

So Jaune thought it was hilarious that the two most calm and collected people in their year were up against him.

Russel used knives or daggers? Anyway the guy was fast and athletic, like one of those acrobats. His daggers were like Weiss' rapier. But nowhere near as refined or graceful as the heiress.

Ren had Stormflower, his dual machine pistol with sickle blades, and was easily a match for Russel. Not to mention Ren's martial arts fighting style.

Jaune honestly thought that his friend was more dangerous without the weapons than with them.

Which left Minato. Jaune still felt uncomfortable about the guy. Over the last week and several days, Jaune didn't think he was a monster anymore. But he still couldn't shake that feeling of seeing someone shoot themselves in a head for power.

Jaune couldn't really explain it. It was just… something was wrong about him. Something Jaune couldn't really explain. Every time he thought of the guy he remembered the two Grimm about to kill Minato. He remembered seeing the gun and freezing up, shocked at what he saw, while Ruby was the only one to move.

Jaune didn't know what it was. Maybe it was because he was still a novice to everything. Maybe it was because he jumped into the world he wasn't ready to be a part of. But in one moment he saw the brutality of the grim and what they could do to someone that wasn't prepared, someone like him. And what people would do to avoid that fate.

And if it the roles were switched. If it was Jaune, that was being trapped and about to be eaten by Grimm. If he was all alone and given that decision. Jaune wasn't sure whether or not he would take the option.

 _~Break~_

"Begin!" Glynda announced, and the buzzer went off.

Minato jumped back, bring his Nihil Weapon up to block the dust shots coming from Russel. The boy with the Mohawk had a sadistic grin on his face, clearly enjoying that he was pushing Minato back.

Which lasted for about two more seconds until Ren came flying in with a kick to the man's face.

Russel was launched back off the ground, but righted himself in the air and landed on his feet. Russel snarled at Ren and the cylinders in his daggers began turning.

Deciding not to wait for him to finish whatever he was doing, Minato aimed his evoker at Russel and sent an Agi spell right at his face.

Russel's eyes widened and brought his daggers up to block the ball of fire. His daggers began to glow and it looked like an extension of the blades formed out of wind.

Minato realized he caused Russel to use his Semblance.

Russel's Semblance was interesting, but so was everyone else's. His Semblance allowed him to make extensions of wind. Or to better explain, Russel was able to use his aura to focus wind into the shape of blades using his limbs or weapons as conduits for it. It had impressive defensive and offensive power, being able to cut through dust ammunition and dealing moderate damage to someone with aura.

Russel then rushed forward with his wind blades. He jumped into the air and began spinning, creating the image of a bladed spinning top, which was headed straight for Minato. Minato ducked under the attack and was about to retaliate, until Ren came out of nowhere thrusting his palm into Minato's chest sending him flying.

The thrust, enhanced by aura, did a number on Minato and felt his chest scream against him in pain. Minato brought Sandalphon to the forefront of his mind to take advantage of the Persona's regenerative abilities.

Minato go back up, expecting a follow-up attack, only to see Ren defending himself from Russel's onslaught. Where Russel had spinning and graceful acrobatics, Ren and skillful mastery over his reflexes. Every attack was dodged, none were parried due to the opponent's superior range.

"It's just my luck," Russel complained in the middle of fighting. "Finally a free for all and I get paired up with the resident mutes."

He aimed another slash for Ren's head which, like the others, didn't land. Causing Ren to plant a strong kick into Russel's stomach.

Ren flew back like before and glared at the martial artist.

Ren smirked. "Talking while fighting can be very distracting."

"Agreed," Minato said, and kicked Ren in the back launching him to the other side of the arena. "Talking is distracting."

Russel laughed, it was a harsh and mean laugh. "Take that pretty boy!"

Ren flipped up off of his back and went straight into his battle stance.

"Well at least you can take a hit." Russel continued, the chambers of his daggers were moving again. "Unlike that wuss leader of yours."

Ren's eyes narrowed and rushed towards Russel. Storm Flower came and began pelting Russel with bullets. Russel blocked the bullets with his wind blades, but Ren was able to get close enough to reach Russel.

Russel tried to slash at Ren but was too slow as Ren dodged and emptied the rest of his clip into Russel's chest.

Minato noted that Russel's aura bar on the screen rapidly depleted in the last few seconds.

Ren jumped back staring as Russel held his chest in pain.

"You… suck." Russel fell to the ground. "Too… much… pain… no good insults."

"Russel Thrush is out!" Glynda yelled and flicked her wand which moved the defeated opponent off of the ring.

Minato turned to Ren. "That was effective if a bit harsh."

Ren shrugged. "He was becoming annoying."

Minato nodded and readied himself for Ren's next attack. The martial artist took his stance and looked towards the large screen. Ren's eyes widened for a second and looked back at Minato.

"You aura bar has been replenished." Ren stated, "How?"

Minato noticed that Sandalphon's regenerated ability had run its course and returned him to the Sea of Souls. Orpheus returned to his mind in his stead.

"There are some abilities I do not need to activate personally." Minato answered, hoping it would be enough for Ren.

Ren nodded. "This is related to those summons of yours." It was a statement, not a question.

Minato nodded.

"If you would permit, I would like to face one of these summons," Ren said.

Minato shook his head. He could summon his Persona's. He knew that those who knew of Orpheus were confused as to why he never summoned him. There were many reasons to why he didn't, but most were childish he admitted. That the rest of the school would be wary of someone who summoned creatures by simulating suicide. That with his Persona's he would be able to easily, as far as he assumed, defeat every single student at Beacon.

The Persona's he wielded were powerful beings in their own right. But his Arcana and the power from his links were lost so to speak. If he gained their power again, then the true strength of his Persona's would come forth.

For while the Universe allowed him to keep his power. The World would break all of the boundaries in his mind. Kohryu and Sandalphon at their true power would be almost unstoppable if he had his full abilities. Now they were simply powerful constructs of his mind that would answer to his whim.

A small lake that had the potential to be an ocean.

Using them in matches such as this would be a gross overuse of their abilities. Persona were weapons of the mind used to fight against the representations of the evils of humanity and protect the users from their corruption. They were a representation of the kind of person they were.

Now wasn't the time. Maybe if he became more comfortable showing his power. Maybe if the world required him to use it to expand the possibilities of those around him.

But now? No.

"That will have to wait," Minato answered.

"Then let us continue," Ren said and rushed Minato again.

Minato brought Kohryu to his mind and jumped into the air.

Ren continued to run but aimed his pistols at Minato trying to catch him in the air. Minato aimed his evoker, not at Ren, but at the stage.

"Magaru." Minato pulled the trigger and fired.

The Ma- spells are different in some ways. Overall they are used to attack multiple targets. Lightning arcs through enemies. Fire covers the area with explosives. Ice encases everything with frozen brine. Light and Darkness create sigils of power to entrap and destroy all within it.

And the wind creates a mini tornado.

Not prepared for the wind attack, and unable to get away. Ren was swept up into the green wind storm that Minato created. It would only last for a few seconds which would give Ren just the amount of time he needed to correct himself.

Minato misjudged how fast Ren would adapt to the raging winds. When he dropped down preparing his next attack, Ren used Storm Flower to propel himself towards Minato, similar to how Ruby used Crescent Rose to increase her speed and power.

Ren threw Storm Flower at Minato. The blades came spinning at Minato, and there would be no chance to dodge both of them. Minato raised his arms in defense and activated Kohryu's scale.

Many Persona had abilities unique to themselves. Others had similar abilities that Minato was able to mimic and even give to others when they were fused together. Of such abilities, Kohryu was able to nullify abilities that would fall under Pierce and strikes.

Minato was able to nullify three types of physical attacks depending on the Persona. Strikes, like blunt attacks and those meant to bruise. Slash, which mostly dealt with swords and those wanting to cut skin. And finally Pierce attacks, which was useful for bullets, arrows, and stabbing weapons.

Ren's Storm Flower would usually fall under the slashing category, however, due to the wind and the spinning, as well as the trajectory of its flight. If Minato could land the blades just right, it would technically count as a piercing attack.

Minato made sure to time it just right. He lifted his arms to intercept Storm Flower catching bot blades on the tip. Kohryu's Scale activated automatically nullifying the attack. Its force, weight, sharpness, everything that could harm him was simply gone, and the weapons fell to the floor.

At this point, the green whirlwind had ended, and Ren was running at Minato again.

Minato readied Null strike and waited for Ren to attack. The martial artist stopped right before he got to Minato, using the leftover force of his run he thrust both palms into Minato's chest.

Normally that would've flung Minato outside of the arena. But will Null Strike activated all that essentially happened was Ren doing no more than placing his hand on Minato's chest.

Surprised by the lack of force and Minato not flying away, Ren wasn't ready for Minato's evoker being placed right on his chest.

"Garu," Minato said and pulled the trigger.

A concentrated blast of green wind launched Ren away from Minato. Unable to stop himself, Ren condensed his aura to his back to lessen the damage the incoming wall would give. Ren landed outside the arena and fell to the floor. Minato saw Ren catch himself and bring himself upright in several seconds. He was breathing hard, but for the most part didn't look that unharmed.

However.

Minato turned to the screen and saw Ren's aura bar was nearly at the red. Minato knew the reason for this, out of Ren's team he had the least amount of stamina. Jaune was able to take more hits than the man, but he made up for that in skill and close quarters combat efficiency.

A glass cannon if you will.

"Winner, Minato!" Glynda announced. "The three of you come here."

The three walked over. Minato appeared to be fine but was suffering the feedback for switching between his Personas's so fast. The human mind was limited to a degree, so switching between the abilities of three manifestations of thought tended to become taxing after a while. Ren was scuffed up on some places, but for the most part looked well enough.

Russel, however, was still clutching his chest in pain. Minato imagined that bullets to one's stomach, aura or not, was not a pleasant experience.

"Now Mr. Thrush, can you tell me what you did wrong?" Glynda asked.

Russel looked down, his face holding contempt. "I got teamed up on." He snarled.

Glynda shook her head. "Mr. Russel I will remind you that this was a free for all match, so rather than complain about your lose how about you answer my question." Her voice was stern and unforgiving.

"Alright, fine." Russel hissed. "I got distracted, and pretty boy here took me out." He motioned to Ren.

"First, Mr. Thrush I feel the need to remind you that there will be no insulting of one another in my classroom," Her gaze hardened and became cold. "Is that clear?"

Russel's eyes widened and shook his head. "Yes ma'am, sorry."

"And yes, you did get distracted. You were up against two classmates who are known to be reserved with their speaking did you not?"

Russel nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"So it would stand to reason that someone as talkative as yourself, would have to think before trying to antagonize them," Glynda explained. "While talking to an opponent during a fight can have its advantages, such as making an opponent lash out or even cause them to become sloppy, it is important to know _who_ you are talking to during this and whether or not you can handle someone that you enrage."

Russel blinked. "Oh… I thought-"

"You thought I was going to give you a lecture on insulting your classmates and immaturity in my class?" Glynda questioned a small smirk n her face.

"Uhh." Russel stammered.

"Mr. Thrush, in this class you are learning how to fight and adapt. It would be remiss of me as your teacher to dismiss your style of combat simply because I find it disagreeable. Being able to break an opponent's concentration by talking to them during battle is an incredibly useful skill to have. Just try to be careful on who you try to talk down to."

"Oh. Thank you, professor Glynda." Russel answered, the surprise on his face making it evident that this was a rare occasion for him.

"However your skill with your Semblance could use some work as well as your dagger style. I expect you to be training with your weapons in your spare time." Glynda continued.

"Yes, ma'am," Russel answered looking at his daggers.

"Now, Mr. Ren." Glynda turned to the martial artist. "Can you tell me what you did wrong?"

Ren nodded. "I failed to adapt to my situation fast enough, allowing me to lose focus at a critical point in my fight that led to my loss."

Glynda nodded respectfully. "It's good that you noticed that. However, I feel the need to remind you that you take way too many risks while fighting. You have incredible skill, both with and without your weapons Mr. Ren. However, you lack the defensive capabilities and a large amount of aura that the rest of your team possesses. I would suggest that you focus on either improve your fighting style to end fights quicker or change it to a less aggressive style so that you can better compete with your opponent."

Ren nodded in agreement. "I promise, I will learn from this."

"See that you do," Glynda turned to Minato. "Now Mr. Arisato, you did a fine job in assessing your situation, adapting to your opponents, and even using their own tactics against them. Overall a superb performance."

Minato gave her a small nod. "Thank you."

"The only thing I could tell you is that your holding back is not doing anyone any favors." Minato found that Glynda's eyes were boring into him, and his evoker. "Please remember that in this class you are all meant to _test_ each other. If you cannot take those here seriously how will you expect them to do the same for you?"

Minato understood the meaning of those words. He understood the reason that they were being said. But he did not want to argue or fight about the decision. So he nodded and went back to his seats.

And for Minato it wasn't just if those at Beacon were ready to face his Persona's. It was also if he was ready to unleash them.

* * *

 **Author's notes.**

 **Ok sorry about the delay. As you know King of Souls is being written again and here's how I'm gonna be doing things from now on. I'll be releasing chapters for King of Souls next and then doing A colorful World chapter. They're basically taking turns.**

 **Also writing out the outline for A colorful World's story, so everything is gonna be flowing through me a lot faster.**

 **Also, I saw Volume 4 and seeing Cinder made me laugh, karma's a bitch sometimes huh? (just in case this worries anyone me hating Cinder will not in any way affect my characterization of her.)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Difference and Choice

The last few days at Beacon had been relaxing to a certain degree.

Since the students from the other major academies across Remnant would be arriving soon, the teachers had been focusing on keeping the school and its campus presentable for its visitors. Which gave a welcome break from work in the general opinion.

Minato also welcomed the brief reprieve from schoolwork. He wasn't a bad or lazy student by any means, but when one only has three classes a day the work can be a bit excessive.

His classmates, however, were enjoying the fact that they didn't need to write another history report for Oobleck, by evidence of Jaune and Yang's cheers of joy when they were informed.

With Glynda relegating the last few classes to short spars and pop quizzes on her lectures no one was sore from the days before, namely Jaune. And Port is just asking them to read about serpentine Grimm in the next chapter and discuss them if anyone had encountered them, next class. This gave everyone the chance to relax and catch their bearings.

Which gave Minato and Team RWBY some free time.

Minato had remembered when the four girls had… broken into his room to find out more about his interest and hobbies. Minato had also remembered when they had offered to fill in his room to make it less empty.

Minato appreciated the gesture. Maybe they had gone for the most extreme case of finding out more about someone than normal, but their intentions were fine enough. But Minato had never been an extravagant person.

Minato remembered the rooms of SEES. Mitsuru's room had the feel of elegance and nobility, Yukari's was all pink and feminine, and Junpei's room was always full of clutter and trash. Not to forget Akihiko's room which Minato remembered being around 50% room and 50% gym. Even Aigis had her style if one could call a clutter of machinery and a sleeping capsule a style anyway.

Minato had never had a style to his room. The room he left on that day was the same one he entered the year earlier. The same bed, desk, and computer. The need to expand, decorate, or change his environment had never really changed after all that time. It was simple and comfortable, and Minato had no reason to change it or none he could find or consider.

Team RWBY disagreed.

The day before the other students from across Remnant arrived, Minato had found the color coded team in his room again.

Along with a couch with a table, some shelves, a TV, and a large lava lamp.

The couch was set towards the middle right of the room facing the wall where Blake and Yang were trying to set up the large flat screen. The lava lamp, which Minato now realized was twice the size of his desk, the glowing blue and silver fluid floating hypnotically, was set near right corner of the room.

Ruby and Weiss turned to face Minato; it looked like they were directing the other two on getting the TV level with the floor.

Ruby smiled when she saw Minato and waved.

"Hey, Minato! We just came back from our shopping trip and let ourselves in. Look, look, look!" The hyperactive team leader said, showing off the new inclusions to his room. "We got a couch for when everyone comes over with a table to have snacks on, a TV to watch the running living and play Mega Mash Siblings. Oh, oh, and Yang found this sweet lava lamp!" Ruby rushed over to the lamp, and her eyes became mesmerized by the glow. "Look," she whispered, "it's so blue and silvery."

"I see," Minato said, not quite sure how to react, and turned towards the other girls.

"Eyup," Yang said while nonchalantly holding the large TV and still trying to keep it level with Blake. "This sweet junk store was getting rid of a bunch of cool stuff, and I saw that beauty," her face pointed towards the lamp where Ruby was still in a hypnotic gaze, "thing just screamed you, man. Also saw a weird red and green one but I think this one was a better fit."

"Yang's surprisingly good when it comes to gifts for people it seems," Blake said nailing the TV down into the wall and turned to face Minato. "Also sorry for barging in again, I told them to wait for you, but they ignored me."

"Hey! You walked in and agreed to set everything up like the rest of us," Yang argued with her dour teammate. "Ruby already explained that since he's a kinda sorta part of our team, then this is also our kinda sorta room."

Blake glanced away. "It isn't my fault that I can't argue with insane troll logic."

"Ahem," Weiss unceremoniously coughed. "Look we can all talk who broke into whose room after we finish setting this up,"

"We broke into his room, that's already been established," Blake said, her voice drier than the desert.

Ruby popped up from behind Weiss. "You can't break into a room you have a key to!"

Minato sighed and set down his books and waited for the girls to finish. There was no reason to get angry, and he suspected that something like this might happened to he prepared himself for the outcome. The TV was set up several minutes later, after that they all sat down on or around the couch.

"So…" Ruby drawled out, "What do you think?" The girl looked nervous; the excited energy had fizzled into a shy anxiousness waiting for his answer.

Minato looked around. The couch was comfortable, the TV was obviously expensive and looked nice, the table was well made and sturdy, and the lava lamp was a nice decoration of sorts. In all honesty, the room looked nicer than it had before, it felt bigger strange as that may seem. However, there was one problem.

"How much did this all cost?" Minato asked looking at Team RWBY. Minato still had some leftover funds from what Ozpin had given him to buy clothing and other necessities, but he was sure he didn't have enough to pay them back what they gave him.

"Not much," Weiss answered. "Well, not to me anyway, the perks of being an heiress I suppose. But we can talk about repayment later. I believe our team leader asked you a question?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at him expecting him to answer.

Minato turned to Ruby, the sheepish smile still on her face. Minato wasn't exactly sure how to respond. He wasn't resounding with joy, but he didn't hate the new arrangement either. The best he could do right now would be to answer honestly.

"It's nice," he answered trying to sound sincere. "Thank you,"

Ruby grinned then jumped into the air and striking a pose when she landed.

"Team RWBY I declare Mission Awesome Decorate a success!" she continued to hold the pose as if expecting applause but was unceremoniously knocked down by Yang, whose shoulder had been holding Ruby's foot.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down lil sis." She flashed Minato a thankful grin and patted her fallen sister on the head. "Told you he'd love it."

Love was a strong word, but Minato didn't correct her.

"Perfect," Weiss chipped in happily, "Now we can talk about reimbursement."

Everyone looked at the girl with strange faces.

"Really?" Blake said, disapproval almost evident in her tone.

"Yeah Weiss, I thought you said you were cool with buying all this stuff?" Yang asked.

Weiss shook her head. "I said that I would help buy what we needed to bring more life to this room," she turned to Minato, "No offense."

Minato shrugged, he didn't disagree with her.

Weiss continued, "I never said anything about not being paid back."

"Ah cmon Weiss," Ruby said waving a hand at her teammate. "You know Minato can't pay all that back… unless " She looked back at Minato. "You're not some super-secret, super rich prince or heir are you?"

Minato almost raised his eyes at the words, but stopped himself and just shook his head. Moon arcana indeed.

Weiss sighed and pinched her nose at her leader's actions. "I didn't say he had to pay back in money."

"Then what, payback with servitude or work like a debt?" Blake asked.

Minato noticed a slight edge to her voice again. But ignored it and focused on Weiss.

"Well, that wasn't my first idea." Weiss answered, "I was thinking more along the lines of answering a few questions is all."

Minato had a feeling that was what she wanted. Out of their entire class, the one who had been the most vocal of learning about his abilities had been Weiss. Minato had been avoiding the questions, more for his sake than theirs, which had caused some tension between him and the others.

Others had tried being subtle about their questions, except for Yang and Nora, but Weiss had dropped pretenses several days ago and had simply been asking him to take their sparring matches seriously.

He was still hesitant to use his Persona around others. At this point, though there was just no way of justifying it by saying he was using his hesitation as an excuse. Yes, he was unsure why the nature of his power had changed, why he was in this world, and why his power had restarted itself to a degree. And yes he was hesitant to use the full force of his Personas. But after seeing what his classmates were capable of and what they could do, the only excuse he had now was that he was just unsure about it.

Minato was not usually hesitant about such things. But he had to be careful. His power was one given to combat death and give reason to life. Using it unwisely could have disastrous effects. And while Minato had never used his powers in such a way, he was still human, and every human is capable of making mistakes, even him.

But these girls, he felt he could trust them. He had already formed a bond with Ruby, the girl who had rushed in to help him without a moment's hesitation, whether or not it was needed, had made its impression. Yang, a loving older sister. Blake, an insightful young woman. And Weiss was someone who Minato saw a great drive in.

He nodded. If they wanted answers, he would give it to them. They had been honest and kind to him it was only natural that he do the same.

Weiss gave a surprised smile. "Oh, well then of course. I have some question that I was hoping you could answer."

Minato nodded. "What do you want to know?"

Ruby pushed Weiss out of the way before she could ask her question and pushed an object in front of Minato's face. Minato focused and saw that it was the Velvet Key, she must have picked it up from the dresser where Minato left it.

"What's this key for!" Ruby asked frantically. "Ever since I saw it I couldn't get it out of my head. Is it for some secret vault safe? A hidden door invisible from others? A secret snack room?"

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled pushing the girl out of the way. "I was about to ask my question you clutz!"

"Eheheh," Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Weiss, I just got curious, besides that was one of your questions wasn't it?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, _but_ ," Weiss growled and brought up a sheet with numbers on it. "That was _question 3_! You skipped the first two!"

"Does it matter that it's in order?" Blake questioned looking amused at the whole situation.

"Of course it does," Weiss answered like it was more than obvious. "Without structure and ordered list, what are we left with Blake?"

"A waste of time and energy?" Blake asked sarcastically.

"Utter Bedlam actually," Weiss corrected.

"Bedlam?" Ruby questioned.

"A scene of uproar and confusion, or chaos," Blake answered

"Oh like when Yang goes to clubs!" Ruby cheered at her teammate.

"I think you guys are getting distracted." Yang interrupted and turned to Minato while Weiss crossed her arms in annoyance. "So what's the key for?

Minato picked up the Velvet Key from the table and stared at it for several seconds.

"This is the Velvet Key; it opened the door to the Velvet Room," Minato answered. Confusion filled their faces as Minato expected it would. But he waited they would ask when they were ready.

"So it is a key to a club?" Yang asked. "Never heard of the Velvet Room, though, sounds like one of those high-class clubs that Weiss would go to."

Weiss harrumphed. "Please. The only clubs I was ever around were the ones my father forced me to attend for business. I've never happened to like them to much in all honesty." Her face turned thoughtful. "But I've never heard of the Velvet Room before."

"Hmmm," Ruby hummed. "Any ideas Blake?"

Blake shrugged. "It sounds like a shop or something similar to a club, but I suggest we ask the person who knows about it rather than guess,"

Three girls mentally slapped their heads, and everyone turned to face Minato again. He decided to answer their question before they asked it.

"The Velvet room was," Minato tried to find the right words to explain it, "it was similar to a guide."

"A guide?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded. "For those with my abilities, it was a place where we could learn more about the nature of our power and how to improve it. It would be similar to learning about your semblance and having a class or special area to focus on it."

"Woah, so it was like a secret training room?" Yang asked. It wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough to the truth. Minato nodded in agreement.

"That pretty cool man," Yang said then her face grew a bit more serious. "And that leads us to the next question. I'm just going to be straight up with you, what is that whole thing with the shooting yourself in the head?"

"Real tactful Yang," Blake said.

Yang sighed. "You know you can do more than making sarcastic comments huh?"

Blake shrugged but smiled.

"It'd be best if I show you," Minato answered.

Minato got up and grabbed his evoker. The girls all watched him with curiosity in their eyes. He placed the cool barrel to his head and noticed the slightest shifts in their movements. Ruby was the most noticeable as she looked ready to jump out of the seat, but the others were simply tense. They knew what was about to happen, but they were still unused to it.

"Persona,"

The glass broke, power rushed through his soul, and the manifestation of thought known as Orpheus appeared behind him.

Wide eyes and a whistle from Yang gave Minato all he needed from their reactions. Weiss, in particular, looked more confused than anything. Blake was confused too, but her eyes roamed over Orpheus as if looking for something. And Ruby just silently mouthed _cool_.

He allowed the rush of familiar energy to stay for several more seconds and then dismissed his first Persona and sat back down.

"What you just saw was a Persona," Minato began to explain.

"I thought a persona was a way you presented yourself and how people saw you?" Blake asked.

"The definition, yes. The Persona I am talking about is different. My power is the ability to call forth Persona. They are manifestations of thought that are shaped from my mind and soul to aid myself."

"So they're like a super tough and real imaginary friend?" Yang asked as though she was trying to make sense of it.

Minato shook his head. "Close, but not quite. Personas are mask, shields, and weapons that one uses to combat the world. They usually take the form of historical or ancient figures as they represent symbols of strength and power. And since they are symbols that became real within the realm of human thought it's very much the same thing as having the actual figure fight beside you."

"I don't think I get it," Ruby said. "Can you give an example?"

Minato nodded and thought of how to phrase his example.

"Are there any heroic figures or fairytales you could give me an example of?" Minato asked.

"Oh definitely, let's see." Yang put a finger to her chin. "How about the last king of Vale? He was pretty strong and epic."

"I got one; I got one! The four maidens!" Ruby cheered.

"There's Yu of the Cornelia," Weiss added and got several stares. "He was a legendary hunter and traveler in Atlas history. Was said to take down the only Yeti Grimm single-handedly." She rolled her eyes. "You all need to read up more on ancient figures."

"There's also Baluu Eastbear," Blake added which gave more stares. "He was said to be one of the first Faunas, he saved and protected a young child from Sheer Grimm, it was said to have a king taijitu as a tail and the body of a giant tiger."

"Does that help?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded. "Yes, now imagine those legendary figures and what they are capable of. Their legends, power, and what about them relates to you. When summoning a Persona the core would be the legend that the Persona encompasses. For example, the being that you saw me summon was Orpheus, a legendary singer. While he doesn't look exactly like the ancient singer his form is heavily influenced by his legend and has the same abilities he had in life, though my influence over that particular Persona could make it more my own than a symbol of the legend."

"So it's like you summon the concept," Weiss began, "But since it's a concept of thought, what you need for the moment can change its appearance or abilities related to what it's needed for. And then you have a sort of legendary figure that's as real as the original because of the legend it left behind that everyone has recognized?" Weiss finished.

Minato nodded. "More or less that's about it. The beings I summon are formed from the collective unconsciousness of humanity, or more simply how humanity envisions the legends."

"Just from humanity?" Blake spoke up in confusion. "Are Faunus not included?"

Minato honestly didn't know and shrugged.

"The majority of SEES was human, but we did have a dog that was able to use a Persona, I've never really thought about it," Minato answered honestly.

Blake narrowed her eyes. "So since animals can use it the Faunus must obviously be able to use it," There was almost venom in her voice. "Since there's no difference is that it?"

Minato didn't understand why she was so angry, but there was no reason for him to respond as such.

He held up his hand in a placating gesture.

"I didn't say that," Minato started.

"But you implied it," Blake retorted.

Minato shook his head again. "What I meant was that I have never seen a Faunus Persona user, but I have seen those other than human use them. It may be possible, or it may be impossible, I don't know."

Blake still stared hard at Minato while everyone else stared at the scene in confusion.

Then Blake sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make a scene. So you don't know?"

Minato shook his head in agreement. "I can't know something I've never seen, and since I'm the only Persona user I know of at the moment there is no way for me to know,"

"So there could be a collective unconsciousness of Faunus as well?" Blake asked.

Minato nodded, seeing nothing wrong with the question. "That, or there could be no difference between the two. Humanity and Faunus are beings with their legends and stories, legends can be interpreted differently, but in the end, it's our thoughts that form the beings that are called."

Blake's smile replaced the frown as she looked up thoughtfully.

"Geez that's complicated," Yang said and smiled, "But also really cool, another question. Why do you have to shoot yourself to summon it?"

Minato had to figure out how to word this answer as well.

"The best way I can explain it is that one must have gone through severe mental trauma and the gun acts as sort of a link between it and the power. It's also symbolic. What I'm doing is summoning a manifestation of my being as it is at the very moment, to do that, by facilitating that I'm dying I'm able to summon the most current version of the Personas as it was the closest to me at the moment." He explained.

Ruby frowned at him. "So something terrible happened to you. That's why you're able to use it."

Minato almost smiled but simply nodded his head.

"In a way, what was required to use this power had to follow some specific steps. One must first experience pain and hardship, deciding to move forward, and finding a purpose to continue using it."

"So what happened?" Yang asked after the explanation. Which granted her a smack on the head from Weiss.

"You don't just ask someone something like that Xiao Long!" Weiss reprimanded her teammate. She turned back to Minato and put on a diplomatic face. "Sorry about that, you know she can be… stupid sometimes,"

"Geez ice queen you didn't have to hit me that hard," Yang complained.

"Don't call me that," Weiss responded which almost sounded like she was used to the insult. "Anyway, you were talking about the requirements on how to summon your Persona right?"

Minato nodded.

"And you said something about finding a reason to use the power, could you give an explanation?" Weiss asked.

Minato nodded again and continued.

"From my old team, I believe I could give you several examples. Estrangement from one's family. Pressure from your peers. The loss of someone precious, being abandoned, and distrust between those around you. The burden of wrongdoing, the weight of responsibility, and vengeance for what was taken from you. Being empty and alone," Minato looked down at his evoker the memories surging, "and understanding your fate at the very end."

Silence filled the room. Minato looked up and saw all of them were uncomfortable. They were each thinking to themselves but what he had told them was obviously bothering them.

"What you said," Blake spoke up, "How one gains that power. Sounds like reasons for suicide."

It wasn't a question, but Minato would answer it.

"It is supposed to be more symbolic in nature, but they are reasons yes."

"Wait," Yang spoke again. "So you get this power by wanting to kill yourself? That's a little screwed up dontcha think?"

"It could be some power through sacrifice," Weiss added. "Being willing to give your life for the sake of strength could be the reason."

"No."

They all turned to Ruby who had kept quiet for some time. The girl had her face down in thought, but now it was looking up, and an odd light shone in her silver eyes.

"It's about moving forward. Knowing that it hurts and that it's hard, but moving past it anyway. It isn't about accepting death, but accepting life and fighting for it."

This time Minato did smile, if only a little bit, at the young leader. She had grasped the meaning behind the evokers on her own, and she wasn't even a Persona user.

"That was quite profound Ruby," Blake said sounding a little impressed herself.

"That's my little sis!" Yang said as she embraced Ruby in a hug. "Sweet, cute, and a philosopher on the side!"

"Uggh, Yang." Ruby wheezed at her sister. " . ."

Ruby was able to squeeze out of her sister's hug and breathe again. The younger girl hit her sister while the rest in the room watched with small interest.

Weiss clapped her hands and was granted with everyone's attention.

"Well know we at least know what it is, I was hoping that it would be similar to the type of summoning I'm used to, but oh well."

"Wait you can summon too?" Ruby asked. "That's so cool Weiss!" Ruby paused then her face became confused, "Wait if you can summon why haven't you shown us yet?"

"Hey, yeah!" Yang butted in her voice rising. "You were getting so angry about him not summoning, but you can too, and you didn't even tell us. What's up with that?"

"I never said I could summon you, dolts!" Weiss argued back. "I just said I was used to a different type!" She turned away from her teammates. "If you have to know the Schnee family has a family trait that allows us to summon."

"So you can summon heroes like Minato?" Ruby asked.

"Well, no I…"

"Grimm, the Schnee's can summon copies of Grimm," Blake interrupted.

"Are you serious?" Yang asked. "Because with the whole glyph thing you got going on you're starting to look broken."

"This coming from the girl who gets even stronger every time she gets hit even though she can already lift a truck?" Weiss bit back.

"Don't hate me cause I'm awesome," Yang retorted then turned to Blake. "How'd you know what Weiss' family can do?"

If Blake was startled, she didn't show it. But she calmly faced Yang.

"Anyone who knows of Winter Schnee also knows about her combat prowess and ability to use summoning. Learning it was a family trait only took some small amount of research." She explained.

Weiss had a large and proud smile on her face.

"That's only natural. My sister is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Huntress in the world. She's even an Atlas specialist."

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Ruby said. "About being the greatest Huntress, I mean."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked her face almost contorting in anger.

"Yeah I gotta go with Ruby on this one," Yang nodded. "Strongest guy in the world has to be our Uncle Qrow hands down."

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Qrow Branwen, a teacher at Signal Academy," Blake explained and turned to Ruby. "Also the only other scythe-wielding Huntsman alive,"

"Dang, you know about our uncle too?" Yang asked. "You're quite the info dump huh?"

Blake shrugged. "I looked up your families the day after we all became a team. I was surprised to see that both your father and uncle were teachers, which explains your proficiency in fighting." She explained.

"You know it, babe," Yang winked and flexed while Ruby gave Blake a thumbs up.

"But I'm not sure about them being the strongest." Blake continued. "The most successful team in the world right now is GLCR with Team BRWN right behind them. And while Winter Schnee is an Atlas specialist with a near flawless track record…"

" _Near_ flawless?" Weiss questioned, but Blake ignored her

"…Her actions have been more focused on military endeavors and tactical leadership rather than fighting ability. And your uncle doesn't have a hunting career."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

Blake shrugged. "Well, your Uncle was a hunter for around a year after Team STRQ graduated, but stopped taking jobs and became a teacher shortly after. It's quite strange."

Ruby waved a hand. "Oh, he just took a break and decided to travel the world and teach on the side. No big conspiracy to that. But you haven't seen him fight."

"Oh yeah, I once took him on in a spar," Yang said. "Couldn't land a hit on the jerk. Even our dad can't beat him, and he taught me everything I know."

"Ok so you can't beat him by yourself so what?" Weiss asked.

"Look Ice Queen…"

"Hey!"

"When your sister can cut Alpha Beowolves in half in less than a second then you can talk," Yang dismissed the other girl with a wave of her hand.

Minato knew of Alpha Beowolves. They were apparently older and stronger beowolves that could kill several Ursa before even being tired. The creatures were considered dangerous to varying degrees but usually took several Hunters and Huntresses to take down. If Yang's uncle could do what she said he could, then he would be very strong indeed.

"Fine, whatever," Weiss sighed and turned back to Minato. "I only have one more question, if you don't mind answering?" Minato shook his head and allowed her to proceed. "Great, would you mind telling us why, since the day we found you in the forest, you haven't used your Persona?"

All eyes turned to Minato, and he sighed. Minato had known he couldn't avoid the question forever, but he liked to believe he could. He decided to tell them the truth, or at least part of it; they deserved that much.

"My power has been acting strangely," Minato admitted.

"Strangely, how?" Ruby asked.

"For reasons, I'm not ready to say, my power has granted me new freedoms, and I'm unsure if there have been any effects I'm unaware of," Minato explained. Leaving out his reservations and anxiousness of revealing his ability.

"So your powers been on the fritz and you've been keeping it under wraps until you figured it out?" Yang asked trying to make sense of what he said.

Minato nodded, "More or less," he shrugged. "So far my fears have been unfounded, but I'd rather not risk hurting someone if I had the chance to discover a problem,"

The girls nodded in agreement.

"So have you found anything worrying that's still stopping you?" Blake asked.

Minto shook his head. "No, I thought it would be about time to actively use my Personas again,"

"Woah! Seriously!" Yang asked, her voice full of excitement.

Minato nodded. "I've been unfair to all of you; it seems only right that I try to amend that,"

Yang whooped. "Yes! I'm finally going to fight a robot!"

"That's why you're so excited about this?" Blake questioned. "Just fighting the robot?"

"A robot that has a giant music weapon and can heal stuff Blake, C'mon you have to admit it sounds like fun right?" Yang asked her partner.

Blake shrugged, "If you say so,"

"Well then if that's all I feel like my curiosity's been sated," Weiss said. "I'm just glad that I was wrong about the summoning being the same that would have been embarrassing for a Schnee such as myself."

"So, anyone have any more questions for the guy?" Yang looked around the room.

"I do," Ruby raised her hand. And Minato was surprised by how soft her voice sounded. She looked hesitant and almost scared. Minato waited for her to ask and said nothing. The girl took a deep breath and stared directly at Minato. "Can I try to summon a Persona?"

She brought her hands out and waited.

Minato's eyes widened slightly, but his reaction was more restrained than the others. Their faces ranged from shocked to confused, not that he could blame them. The act of summoning a Persona was always hard to watch for those who didn't know, even more so for those just starting.

Minato stared at Ruby. "I'm not sure that it will work," Minato admitted, and he was telling the truth. He had never been the one to find the other members of SEES, but due to the circumstances, there was a very high chance that he was the only and only possible use of Persona.

"Well, we won't know if we don't try," Ruby replied and kept her hands out.

Minato sighed and handed Ruby his evoker.

She stared at the strange gun like it was an artifact, something she didn't and couldn't know or understand.

"You sure about this Ruby?" Yang asked, her eyes never leaving the gun.

Ruby nodded and turned her head back to Minato. "So do I just, point it wherever or…"

"As long as the muzzle is in direct line of the brain it should work," Minato answered then went silent once again.

Ruby took a deep breath. "Ok, ok, ok, ok I got this, I can do this." She took the gun and placed it straight on her forehead. Both hands were holding the gun, and her thumbs were on the trigger. "It doesn't shoot bullets, it's not loaded, and I've seen him use it," Ruby mumbled to herself as she took another deep breath.

She didn't pull the trigger and slowly closed her eyes. She was mentally preparing herself. Minato understood her hesitance. He had not been there to witness it, but Yukari told him that even after she was able to use her power, she couldn't bring herself to use her evoker for some time. Even Junpei was hesitant the first several times Minato saw his best friend use his evoker. He was there when Ken tried to use summon his Persona for the first time; he was close to tears when Nemesis appeared.

She took another breath.

Weiss and Blake held neutral faces, their curiosity over what might happen overpowering any other thoughts. Yang looked nervous and uncomfortable. Minato didn't blame her and was uncomfortable himself. Knowing who Ruby was and what she was like, the very image that she would take her life wasn't just unnerving; it was _wrong_.

He had no idea if anyone in the world could summon a Persona. Minato held the wildcard, he had completed his journey and had achieved a power never before seen. He held a power completely to his own, and without the Dark Hour, without the fall, and without the shadows, there was little chance anyone else could have a Persona.

But if it was possible? If there was a chance to share and spread this power? Minato wasn't sure what would happen. Would Ruby summon a physical manifestation of thought and legend?

She took another deep breath.

Ruby kept on taking slow and deep breaths. Her hands were shaking the gun, and her eyes looked like they were straining to stay closed. She was struggling to pull the trigger, but something was stopping her from doing it.

Minato sighed, he guessed this would happen. Logically she knew what would happen if she pulled the trigger, but her irrational fear was taking over, and she couldn't move. Minato moved to take the gun when Yang slowly and tenderly took Ruby's hands in her own and pulled them down.

Yang held Ruby in her other arm as she removed the gun slowly from her sister's hands. She handed the evoker to Minato and embraced her little sister. Who still had her eyes closed, but her breathing had slowed down. Ruby embraced Yang as well and snuggled up to the older girl who radiated warmth and love.

Only to be ruined by Yang flicking Ruby in the nose, grabbing her in a headlock, and rubbing her knuckles down on the girls head.

"Ah! Yang! Knock it off!" Ruby yelled.

"You had me worried there!" Yang yelled back. "I told you it wouldn't be that easy, but noo~ you know so much better than your big sis!"

"I'm sorry!" Ruby half yelled, and half laughed as she fought with her sister.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Blake said, but a small smile was on her face as she looked at the two sisters.

"It's not like it would have worked anyway," Weiss added and looked at Minato. "You said there were steps that had to be completed to summon the Persona right?"

Minato nodded.

"So unless Ruby has a traumatic past or anything it wouldn't have worked," Weiss concluded.

"In a way," Minato agreed. "The explanation I gave you all was from what I understood when new members joined. I was never given the specific requirements or the process of how to find other Persona users. That was always Mitsuru's focus."

"Mitsuru?" Blake questioned.

"The leader of my old team," Minato answered.

"Oh right, I remember you were talking about something like that," Yang said while still holding Ruby in a headlock. "But, you were also a leader too right?"

Minato nodded. "In combat, everyone deferred to my leadership, but in organization and everything important that comes with actual leadership was where Mitsuru excelled,"

"What was she like?" Ruby asked, finally able to get away from her sister.

Minato hummed and wondered how to answer the question.

"She was cold and serious. She inspired confidence in those around her. She was mature, confident, calm, responsible, and intelligent. But more than anything she cared for those under her. She was always the voice of reason, the voice of logic, and the one who inspired those to fight. I respected her, and I considered her my friend,"

Their eyes were wide. He had probably embellished and praised Mitsuru a little more than necessary, but he spoke the truth. He missed her as much as he missed the rest of SEES. Minato sometimes found himself wondering what she would advise him to do. What would she do in this situation? Mitsuru had always been one to thrive in her environment.

"That's quite the high praise," Blake said. "She must have been very important to you."

Minato nodded. "The more I learned about her, the more I respected,"

"Wells she sounds pretty cool," Yang added. "How'd she fight, though?"

Minato almost smirked at the question and turned to Yang.

"She used a rapier and primarily ice elemental attacks," Minato answered and turned, along with everyone else, to Weiss.

Weiss had a smug smile on her face, "It makes sense she would be the leader. After all, she has refined taste in weaponry."

The girls laughed at their friend and Minato smiled at the memory of Mitsuru. She had given Minato several lessons on how to use a rapier, and while he hadn't preferred the fighting style, he did learn enough from the lessons and style.

"I guess that explains why he's able to fight you so easily Weiss," Yang added. "Dude's had practice."

"Obviously," Weiss answered in turn. "I figured that out weeks ago,"

"Oh, no!" Ruby yelled as she stood up and looked at her arm as though there was a watch there. "Look at the time! We have to head out right now, super important stuff to do!"

Ruby grabbed her teammates and began dragging them out of the room, with a small amount of protest from Yang and Weiss. Minato raised an eyebrow at the odd occurrence but didn't say anything.

"It was great talking to you Minato. Thanks for answering all of our questions. Super glad you like the furniture. Maybe next time we can invite team JNPR. See you tomorrow, bye!" Ruby said in a speed almost matching Prof. Oobleck and left the room with her protesting team.

The younger girl was odd, but if they had important matters to attend to he wouldn't fault them.

Minato looked around his room. It was less roomy than before, but wasted space had been taken, so that was to be expected. The light from the large lava lamp also gave a soothing presence in the room. The silver and blue colors moving across the room in a smooth pattern.

Minato turned to the TV set and began tinkering with it. He was never a really big fan of television, not that he disliked it but he simply had no reason or time to watch TV. He flipped through the channels available and found that for the majority at the end of the list were musical channels.

Minato found some smooth jazz, surprised that this world even had jazz, and discovered it was quite decent.

Minato moved to his desk to begin working on his homework.

 _~Break~_

"Alright, alright, geez, slow down Ruby!" Yang whined as her sister continued to drag her team across the hallway.

Small as Ruby was, her little sister was surprisingly strong when she needed to move people.

Ruby stopped on a dime, which caused the other three girls to barrel into her, knocking all four of them onto the ground.

Yang was fortunate enough to land on top of everyone, which was unfortunate for everyone else. Wasn't her fault they were smaller than her, in more places than one, that's just those good genes working in her favor.

Team RWBY picked themselves up and dusted themselves off after the little mishap. Only for three annoyed glares to turn at Ruby.

"Ruby," Weiss began sounding exasperated. "Would you please tell us exactly _what_ was so important that you had to drag us all out of there at once?"

"Yeah sis, not gonna lie, that was kinda rude," Yang added.

The three girls turned to her with deadpanned looks. Yang raised an eyebrow at that.

"What?"

They shook their heads and turned back to Ruby. Yang didn't understand it; her team could be so difficult to deal with sometimes. Guess it's one of the trials of being awesome.

"Yeah Ruby, that wasn't the most subtle way to head out. What's going on?" Blake asked.

Ruby sighed and turned away while grabbing her left arm.

"I, uh… well, I didn't notice it at first, but do you remember what he said when Minato was talking about Mitsuru?" Ruby asked.

Yang frowned. Her little sister sounded uncomfortable and sad. What did Minato say about Mitsuru? Could Ruby have a crush? Nah there's no way she would. Maybe?

Yang shook her head to get away from her sister matchmaking thoughts and focused on what Ruby meant.

"I don't understand, he said she was his friend right, and she was respectable, mature, and a great fighter." Weiss listed off.

Yang still had no idea what Ruby was talking about and was about to ask her little sister what she meant before Blake spoke up.

"Was," Blake said. "Past tense,"

Yang leaned her head in confusion. What did that mean? Minato was talking about the past and stuff. Yang wasn't an expert on grammar or whatever but she was sure when you referenced things in the past you would use past tense.

Yang turned to Weiss, hoping for some explanation, only to see the ice princess scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion and then widen her eyes in surprise.

"Oh," Weiss' eyes became sad.

Yang was getting annoyed. She didn't know why but her friends were acting like someone had died or…

"Oh man, that sucks," Yang said as she finally figured it out.

"I never really thought about what happened with his old team," Ruby said. "I just thought he was acting distant because he missed them,"

"But it makes sense," Blake said. "If he lost them, it's only natural he would try to distance himself away from others. It's not that uncommon for Hunters and Huntresses to withdraw from society if they lose someone important."

"Yeah," Yang agreed, being reminded of her dad. "I can guess how he feels." Yang slapped her forehead in frustration. "And we just had him take a trip down sad memory lane didn't we?"

"Of course," Weiss sighed. "But he didn't seem to mind it that much, maybe he's gotten over it, or it doesn't bother him that much anymore?" Weiss asked.

"He did seem rather nostalgic when talking about her," Blake agreed. "Maybe we're the ones overreacting here?"

"I don't know, ugh." Ruby hanged her head. "I mean, we know almost nothing about him, we could be talking about getting some tea, and he'll remember that his best friend used to like coffee and hate us for reminding him!"

"That seems a little extreme Ruby," Blake said trying to calm down her leader.

"Yeah, and don't you like coffee?" Yang added, trying to alleviate some tension.

Ruby hung her head and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just rambling right now," She looked at her team. "Did we do the right thing?"

The girls looked at each other not sure what to say.

Yang wasn't too sure herself. They didn't do the wrong thing that would be stupid. But Ruby was hung up on trying to become friends with Minato. That whole advice thing had helped, and it was only natural for Ruby to return the favor. Also, her sister needed some more friends.

"Look, how about we invite him to come with us tomorrow after class?" Weiss offered. "Get him out of beacon and learn more about him or something like that?"

"Oh, yeah," Yang remembered. "You wanted to go to the docks to see the arriving students,"

"Oooh that sounds like so much fun!" Ruby chirped.

Yang rolled her eyes at her little sister. Ruby could be such a spaz sometimes. But sister crisis averted.

"Sweet, now that we've got that settled I can't wait for the combat training next week," Yang said.

Combat training had been suspended until the new students from Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral arrived. The visiting students would be given the opportunity to join the classes at Beacon, which Yang thought was a great idea because they could only do so much with the same fighters.

"I can't wait to take a swing at that giant doll of his," Yang said excitedly. "We probably haven't even been able to see half of what he's capable of,"

"I'd be lying if I wasn't interested too," Weiss agreed. "It's so different than the summoning Winter does, both in form and concept…" Weiss' eyes began to shine. "Oh, this is great! Now I can answer Winter's questions about it! I'm so glad we asked him to explain in detail,"

"The way he explained it was pretty complicated," Ruby admitted. "I mean I get it still, just took some time to wrap my head around it,"

Yang waved her hand. "Nah it's easy. He can summon imaginary friends by shooting himself in the head and gets some abilities from them," Yang smiled as her friends stared at her. "See? Simple."

"Sure, thanks for clearing that up," Blake added then turned to Ruby. "Sorry you weren't able to summon a Persona by the way,"

Ruby rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Nah its fine, I just kinda froze when the gun was at my head y'know?"

"Though that would be interesting if we could summon or own Persona," Weiss added. "If you can get past how to summon it of course."

Yang had to agree. She imagined summoning a giant golden dragon, or the last king of Vale he always sounded amazing, or maybe a giant doll version of herself.

"Even if we could I don't think it would work," Blake said.

"Eh, why not?" Yang asked confused.

"If we could then how would we even summon it?" Blake asked. "We can't just take his gun can we?"

"Oh man, that's right." Yang realized. That was a bummer, there goes her personal dragon and flying buddy.

"Well it was just a thought anyway," Weiss waved it off like it was nothing. "But in all seriousness, we should get back to our room and get out homework done,"

"Ugh," Yang whined. The ice queen could be such a bummer sometimes.

"We should invite team JNPR next time we hang out over there," Ruby added as they headed to their dorm. "Nora would love that lava lamp, and we could make it a party!"

Weiss smiled, "It would be nice to spend some time around Pyrrha, I need to ask her how she's able to move so quickly with that armor,"

"I was also wondering what book Ren was reading at lunch," Blake added.

"Why didn't you ask him?" Yang asked confused.

Blake brought up a book out of nowhere with a bookmark around the end. "I was almost finished,"

Yang shook her head. Blake could be weird sometimes.

Then Yang remembered something else about team JNPR.

"And we got Jaune," Yang added, smirking while looking at Weiss.

"Don't remind me," Weiss groaned. "Honestly I don't understand why he can't take a hint,"

"Oh cmon he isn't that bad ice queen," Yang said.

"He's an incorrigible moron," Weiss countered.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he beat you in the last combat training match?" Blake added in a teasing voice.

"He was teamed with Pyrrha!" Weiss argued.

"Fair point," Blake agreed

"You still lost," Ruby added.

Weiss sighed. "Shut it, Ruby,"

The girls laughed as they walked back to their rooms.

 _~Break~_

Minato had been invited to the docks.

Ruby had invited him to join her team after school. Minato accepted but would be a little late because he wanted to finish the most recent homework given that day.

It wasn't much, and Mitsuru had always been one to advise in completing one's responsibilities as soon as possible as not to create future problems. And since Mitsuru was the only other student that competed with Minato and Aigis in the grades department he listened to those instructions.

He had finished within the hour and begun to head towards the docks. The city of Vale was a beautiful city. It reminded Minato of Tatsumi Port Island in some ways. The large school, the bustling city, individuals and people with lives and dreams.

Also no one with apathy syndrome, that was nice too.

It had taken Minato some time to reach the dock area. He was about to see the docks proper, only to see a young man running from the police.

The boy was smiling as he ran past Minato and jumped into the air to land on the lamp post nearby. Minato noticed that the boy had a tail, a monkey tail to be exact, so he was a Faunus. Minato wasn't sure why the police were chasing him, but if they weren't shooting at the man, then it wouldn't be that serious.

It wasn't his place to involve himself in stuff like that. At least not yet.

Minato looked around wondering where team RWBY was. He saw some people leaving the ship that just arrived from Vacuo, he saw some colorful individuals, but the group he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

He decided to walk around and see if he could find anything.

He found them because he could hear the shouting.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!" Blake yelled.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to stop referring to this trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?"(1) Weiss retorted sarcastically.

"Stop it!" Blake yelled back.

"Stop what?" Weiss yelled in return. "He obviously broke the law, give him time, and he'll probably join those other criminals in the White Fang,"

Minato looked back and forth from the two and turned to the others just watching.

Ruby and Yang hadn't even noticed Minato and seemed to be looking uncomfortable as the fight went on. And there was another girl Minato had never seen before; she wore a white, gray, and green dress. And had curly orange hair.

And she was looking straight at Minato. As if the moment he had been able to come into the field of vision she turned her head to him and smiled.

She had green eyes, but Minato couldn't help but find something familiar about her eyes. They looked unnatural, almost metallic.

She waved to Minato and smiled.

"Hello, new person!" She greeted in an almost strangely cheerful way.

This caused everyone else to turn to Minato. Minato, in turn, looked at Blake and Weiss.

"What happened?" Minato asked.

Weiss elected to inform him. "This stowaway Faunus was running away from the police, but we lost him thanks to," Weiss pointed at Blake, "Blake trying to defend his actions for some reason,"

"You don't know that you little brat!" Blake yelled back. "He was probably just being blamed because he was a Faunus!"

"Oh yes because that makes so much sense," Weiss answered in deadpan. "I'm sure it's all a complete misunderstanding,"

Minato noticed the tension rising, but was unsure how to diffuse it.

"Did he happen to be a monkey Faunus?" Minato asked.

"Uh, yeah." Weiss stammered. "How did you know that?"

Minato pointed his head backward. "I saw him running away from two officers; it didn't seem that serious,"

"See!" Blake pointed towards Minato. "Even Minato thinks that there was no reason for them to chase him down,"

"How does that prove anything?" Weiss demanded. "He doesn't know what that Faunus kid did to get chased!"

"What did he do?" Minato asked he was wondering why Yang and Ruby weren't getting involved.

"He stole a banana," Blake said evenly.

"He was a stowaway on a ship!" Weiss added.

"That doesn't matter!" Blake yelled again. "He's already here, what are they going to do? Send him all the way back to Mistral?"

"Then it's just fine for a Faunus to get away with a crime then?" Weiss asked. "Then I guess we should just tell the White Fang that everything's been forgiven for the people they've hurt huh?"

"Why do you keep on equating him to the White Fang?" Blake demanded. "Just because one member of a species does something wrong it doesn't mean that an entire group is guilty because they have a single connection!"

"Am I wrong to believe that criminals are related and just as bad as other criminals?" Weiss demanded back. "I didn't realize the laws had changed!"

"The White Fang are not criminals! They are a group of Faunus who want to change things for the better and have three different group who operate differently from one another. Which you would now if you hadn't been sheltered and protected your entire life unlike the rest of us!"

"Excuse you!" Weiss screeched.

Their argument continued going back and forth. Minato wasn't sure what to do. He remembered these types of arguments the members of SEES had, but he had stayed silent during those and eventually things had worked out.

Minato decided to say nothing, but involve himself if Ruby asked for help. This seemed like a personal matter, and he was only a reserve member for his year. He wouldn't get involved in arguments unless he had to, that was the safest way.

"I think we should go," Yang said uncomfortably.

"Where are we going?" The strange girl asked while appearing behind Yang. The blonde girl shook her head and started to walk towards the arguing girls. She turned to Minato and made a face towards her teammates. "Sorry Minato, stuff's going on,"

Minato nodded in understanding and watched as Yang began pushing her friends back towards Beacon.

They were still arguing.

Ruby ran past Minato and waved in apology. Minato waved back; it seemed polite. Then he turned and noticed that the other girl was staring right at him.

"Good day!" She said with the same cheerfulness as if the argument earlier hadn't rattled her. "My name is Penny Polendina, what's your name?"

She extended her hand to Minato. He accepted the handshake.

"Minato Arisato," he answered.

"Are you a friend of Ruby's?" Penny asked.

Minato thought about that, then nodded. He had made a bond with the girl; it was reasonable to say they were friends.

"How wonderful!" Penny cheered. "I've recently become friends with Ruby myself," She gasped. "Does that mean we're friends as well?"

There was a strange look in her eyes. Something vague and familiar, but Minato recognized the hope in those eyes.

Minato saw no reason not to be friends with the strange girl. As self-conscious as Ruby is, if she was able to become friends with Penny in the scope of several hours then she couldn't be that bad.

Minato nodded. "I don't see why not,"

"This is incredible!" Penny cheered. "Two new friends already, I am truly loving Vale!" She reached over and grabbed both of Minato's hands in a fierce handshake. "Thank you for accepting my friendship Minato!"

Glass shattered.

 **Thou hast re-ignited the Aeon Arcana**

 **The voice of the Almighty speaks again**

 **Remember never to stop trying to understand, to learn, to discover.**

Minato's eyes widened, and a strange thought entered his mind.

Penny frowned at him. "Are you well? Your aura recently fluctuated and shifted,"

Minato shook his head. "I'm fine," He stared at the girl who was still holding his hands. And decided to ask his question.

"Penny, may I ask you something?" Minato started.

Penny cocked her head and let go of Minato's hands. She thought for several seconds and turned to Minato.

"Friends answer question correct?" She asked.

Minato nodded in agreement.

Penny smiled, 'Then ask away Minato!"

Minato wasn't sure how to word his question, but the best choice might just to be blunt.

"Penny, are you a robot, or an Android perhaps?" Minato asked.

Minato was used to one type of robotic individual. Someone who was quiet used little emotion in her words and was reserved for her words due to isolations and incompatibility. Minato wasn't used to Penny.

"Yes!" Penny said with a smile. Then she paused for several seconds. Her eyes grew wide. And she suddenly became very afraid. "Oh no I forgot my first objective!"

She looked down and wouldn't meet Minato in the eyes.

"I was told not to inform any individual of my being," she looked up in confusion. "How did you realize I wasn't human?"

Minato shrugged, deciding not to tell the girl of his Persona, but decided to give her a small bit of truth. "I have a friend who's also a robot,"

Penny's eyes grew wide. "Really! Is she like me?"

Minato shook her head. "No she's different, but we were good friends. Her name is Aigis,"

"So," Penny fidgeted with her fingers. "Me being a robot does not frighten or alienate you?" Penny asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

Minato shook his head. "I see no reason why it would,"

Penny jumped up in joy. "This is the most glorious of days indeed. I knew going on my own would prove beneficial!" She rushed to Minato. "Tell me, would Ruby also be alright with knowing my true identity?"

Minato didn't think her identity was a secret, but that was neither here nor there.

"Knowing Ruby, she would probably think you're amazing," And knowing how the girl is with technology, Penny would probably be a dream come true.

"Fortuitous!" Penny cheered. She checked her watch and gave an imitation of a shocked gasp.

"Oh, I must be off!" She turned stepped closer to Minato. She looked hesitant, then _hugged_ Minato.

Minato wasn't a hug person; there was a little too much contact for his liking. But at least she wasn't hanging on him.

"Thank you for becoming my friend Minato," She began to run out of sight and waved back to Minato. "Have a terrific day!"

Minato waved back. At least this trip hadn't been all that bad.

 _~Break~_

Minato woke up the next day and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

From what he had heard last night while walking back, Blake and Weiss had still been arguing. He was unsure how anyone could argue that long, but he had witnessed stranger things before.

As he entered the cafeteria, he noticed team RWBY sitting and eating already.

Without Blake.

The ninja-themed girl was missing from the table, and it showed. Weiss appeared to be angry at her food using expert stabs and slices to eat. Yang was eating normally, but the girl's vibrant energy had faded to a more solemn note. Ruby wasn't even eating; she looked nervous and agitated at the same time.

Minato got his food, some eggs, and bacon with some milk, and sat down next to them. The three looked at him but said nothing. Minato sighed, it seemed as though he would have to ask.

"Blake ran away last night," Ruby sighed dejectedly.

Minato frowned. He wasn't surprised something like that had happened. He'd seen things like that before, but he was surprised that Blake had been the one to run away. Weiss would have been his first guess.

"You make it sound like she's some lost puppy or something," Weiss said but didn't look at Ruby.

"Well if you wouldn't have kept on arguing last night this wouldn't have happened," Yang pointed out, her voice almost angry.

Weiss turned an angry glare to Weiss. "Am I supposed to apologize for being right? Besides she's the one who ran away not me."

"That's enough," Ruby said. Her voice was surprisingly calm and low. "This isn't solving anything," She turned to Minato and frowned. "I'm sorry about yesterday Minato, but we have to look for Blake right now,"

Minato nodded. And decided to offer a helping hand.

"Would you like any help?" Minato offered.

Ruby shook her head.

"Sorry Minato, this is a team RWBY problem, but thank you," She gave him a small smile and motioned for her teammates to join her.

Yang and Weiss waved at as they left. Minato looked back at his food then back to the leaving girls.

Minato had, surprisingly, forgotten what Ruby had said when he offered to help them. It was such a shame really, lapses in memory can become harmful. But Minato had to assume that they accepted his offer and were waiting for him to finish eating.

And Minato had recently discovered he wasn't hungry, what are the chances.

But it's wasteful just to leave food, so Minato took one last bite of his eggs and headed out to look for Team RWBY's lost teammate.

He was technically part of their team after all.

 _~Break~_

Minato began walking around the city. He had an idea of where to look in the city. Minato didn't know much about Blake, but what he did know could help.

The girl liked to read, so places where one could read, places where there were books and quiet and calm places. She also liked tea and fish. So a tea house, coffee shop, or anything related to that would work.

Minato had checked several places to no avail. The bookstore, run by a nice man who had convinced Minato to order a fairy tale book, hadn't seen her. A nearby breakfast diner and café also hadn't seen her.

Minato wasn't surprised. Those were the closest places near Beacon, and if one were trying to avoid people from Beacon, it would make sense to move farther away.

Minato had checked one more shop before finding Ruby.

He had expected to run into the young leader with her sister and Weiss. However, he had not expected to see Penny with her instead. Minato had to guess that the robotic girl was able to keep track of things such as people.

Which was later proven when Minato began walking towards them, Penny suddenly turned around with a large smile on her face.

"Hello, my friend Minato!" Penny cheered and walked towards him. Ruby turned around in shock as she saw Minato.

"It's great to see you again Minato!" Penny cheered as she stood in front of Minato.

Minato smiled at the girl and nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked. "I told you that this was a Team RWBY problem Minato?"

"You did," Minato agreed. "But, I remembered that I am technically Team RWBY's reserved member, so it was my problem,"

There was at least some pride to take in when Ruby couldn't argue back, considering that she had been using the same excuse to involve herself and her team with his life.

"I, can't argue with that can I?" Ruby awkwardly asked. "I just didn't want to drag you into our problems,"

"Excuse me, Ruby?" Penny asked. "I am of the understanding that if more individuals search for one individual, then the chances of finding said the individual in an enclosed area rises exponentially!"

Ruby turned her head sideways, "Wha?"

"She means the more people who search, the faster we'll find her," Minato explained.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Ruby agreed.

"Wonderful!" Penny said. "Now let us continue looking for your Faunus friend Blake,"

Ruby made a strained face and made an embarrassing face at Minato. Minato just raised an eye at the statement.

"We uh," Ruby hesitated. "We think Blake may be a Faunus, cause y'know her bow." Ruby put her two hands beside her head and indicated having fictional ears atop her head by wiggling her fingers. "Cat ears,"

Minato nodded. "I see,"

"That's it?" Ruby asked. "I mean, we live with her, and we were kind of shocked, I mean it made sense once we thought about it. Like she liked tuna, and was always pretty defensive of all the Faunus stuff,"

Minato shrugged. How was he supposed to react? Blake was a Faunus, after recent events and things with her personality, it made sense.

"Does it change anything?" Minato asked.

Ruby shook her head. "Of course not, she's still our friend. Kitty ears or not,"

Minato nodded in agreement. It was comforting to see a person like Ruby now and then. Someone who saw people and who they were rather than what they were.

Minato looked around again and remembered something odd.

"Where are Weiss and Yang, I thought they left with you?" Minato asked.

Ruby almost looked annoyed.

"They were! But then they left me with Penn.." Ruby turned to Penny who was smiling at her friend. "..ns and that's not important, nope! I'm sure we'll meet up with them later."

"What pens Ruby? I don't see any?" Penny asked.

"Oh, you know Penny, pen… stuff… things," Ruby tried explaining.

"I think we're getting off track," Minato said, trying to diffuse the tension and save Ruby some embarrassment.

"Uh, that's right! We need to focus on finding Blake!" Ruby quickly agreed. "Minato, do you have any idea where to look? So far we've just been wandering around,"

Minato thought about that. "I've been checking café's and bookstores, but no one has seen her,"

"Yeah we were doing the same thing when we first started, but no luck there," Ruby admitted.

"Is there anything that would give us a clue?" Penny asked. "You said she ran away because of her argument with Weiss over the White Fang, correct?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, she got really angry at Weiss because of that," Ruby paused for a moment and looked at Minato. "You don't think that Blake was…"

"It makes sense," Minato said, knowing where Ruby was going.

"But Blake isn't a criminal, and she doesn't hate human… well, except maybe Weiss. I'm not so sure right now," Ruby said.

"That may not be the case," Minato added. "The White Fang is a large organization; it's possible that while everyone in the group rallies under the cause, everyone might not have the same ideology about how to go about things,"

"That is correct!" Penny said with an abundance of energy. "The White Fang is currently in a three-way split between separate ideologies. The Revolution Party, The Equality Party and the Ruling Party!"

"There are three parties?" Ruby asked. "I just thought it was one big group,"

Penny nodded. "It used to be, but several years ago the original leader stepped down, and another took his place. This caused a major division in the organization as ideologies began to conflict with one another,"

"Like what?" Minato asked.

He didn't know much about the White Fang, only that they were a group that advocated Faunus rights and had recently been doing so through violence. Minato was also wondering how Penny knew this information but considering that she was a robot he had a pretty good hunch.

"Well the Revolutionary party wants to essentially start a war with humanity and either wipe them out or make the world where they are lesser creatures and or slaves," Penny answered with her chipper voice.

"That sounds bad," Ruby commented.

"Oh it is, but they are the relatively smaller group compared to the other two," Penny put her hand to her chin in contemplation. "However their numbers have been growing recently. Anyways there are two more factions,"

"The Ruling faction is the largest faction. They believe that humans are incapable of ruling and that they need time to grow and eventually evolve. So they want to establish a ruling system where Faunus are in charge and humans, while not being full citizens, are protected and taught by Faunus. They believe that humans can eventually be equal to them, but simply aren't capable right now," Penny explained.

"That's… different, but I don't think I can agree with that," Ruby said. "I mean, I don't know about the world governments and politics that much, but that seems like nicer way of saying we're better than you,"

Minato agreed. He understood the reasoning, and the group probably believed that it had the best interest of everyone, but their way of confronting the issue was a strange one. It sounded like an entire group that wanted to play parent to an entire species.

"And the equality party?" Minato asked.

Penny nodded. "They're currently the second largest and the group that follows the original leader's ideals. They believe that equality and harmony can exist between Humans and Faunus. They are having difficulty with keeping members because of the actions of the Revolutionary Party, but are perhaps in the best position to inspire change in the long term," The robotic girl explained.

"Blake must have been a part of that group," Ruby said and turned to Minato. "I mean she was arguing about how the White Fang helps Faunus and tries to help everyone, right?"

Minato frowned. "Then why did she leave and come to Beacon?" Minato turned to Ruby and decided to voice his guess.

"There might be a chance she was part of the other parties but left," Minato said.

"But, then why would she come here and not just join the other faction?" Ruby asked.

Minato shrugged. "I'm not sure," Minato turned back to Ruby. "We should probably ask her when we find her,"

"Oh right!" Ruby hit herself on the head. "We got distracted by everything Penny said…" Ruby stopped and turned towards Penny. The girl was still smiling.

"Penny?" Ruby said cautiously.

"Yes Ruby," Penny answered with a smile.

"How did you know all that stuff about the White Fang?" Ruby asked.

"Oh that's simple," Penny began. "All high ranking personnel in Atlas have access to the records of the White Fangs and their most recent actions. I just had to access my data-," Penny shut her mouth so fast it almost looked like it had clamped shut.

Penny gave Minato a worried glance and moved her eyes between him and Ruby. Ruby noticed this and looked between the two of them in confusion.

"Uh, what's going on?" Ruby asked.

Minato sighed.

"It's your choice," He directed at the girl.

Penny nodded and seemed to steel herself.

"Ruby, as your friend, I haven't been completely honest with you," Penny said almost looking ashamed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ruby asked. "Like is this some super-secret or something?"

"Something like that," Minato agreed.

"Ruby, I need to ask you something, and I need you to give me an honest answer," Penny said with complete seriousness.

Ruby looked back and forth between Minato and Penny. But she turned back to Penny and nodded.

"I don't know what's going on, but a sure thing," Ruby said.

Penny took a deep breath. "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

Ruby tilted her head and waited several seconds before answering. "Sure thing Penny,"

Penny gave Ruby a bright smile and stood a bit straighter.

"Ok then! Ruby, I am an android that was created by the Atlessian Military and General James Ironwood. I was designed to be the first synthetic person capable of generating their aura," Penny answered.

Ruby looked confused. "Wait… so you're an Android?"

"Yes," Penny answered.

"That can use aura and fight?"

"Affirmative,"

"And your part of the Atlas Military?"

"Correct again!"

Ruby paused for several seconds. The silence stretched on, and Minato could've sworn that a tumbleweed passed them by in the silence. It was almost comical.

"That. Is. AWESOME!" Ruby yelled and started invading Penny's personal space a second later.

"Can you shoot lasers? Do you have super strength? What weapons do you have? Do you need oil to move?"

Penny smiled at Ruby. "Yes, enhanced, magnetically enhanced dust blades on strings, and no,"

"This is so cool!" Ruby cheered. "I didn't know robots existed, and you're so lifelike too!"

"Thank you, Ruby," Penny smiled. "But I am supposed to keep this a secret, but since you and Minato are my friends and the both of you have promised to keep this a secret everything should be fine!"

Ruby smiled at Penny but was interrupted by the screeching of tires.

A car, slim, black, and had the symbol of Atlas on the doors, pulled up right beside them. Penny's smile faltered and instantly became downtrodden.

Two men in mechanical uniforms stepped out of the vehicle. The armor was interesting in design, the entire top half of their bodies were covered in metal armor, but conveniently had different color lines of red and blue to distinguish one from another.

They also had large rifles. Neither was being pointed at anyone, but they were visible.

"Ms. Polendina," The guard in the blue, said. "Please come with us,"

Penny sighed. "I stopped for too long," She turned to Ruby and Minato and gave them an apologetic smile. "I need to go with them, I'm sorry."

"Wait, why do you…" Ruby saw the Atlas symbol on the car. "Oh… that."

"I wanted to help you find Blake, Ruby. I'm sorry," Penny apologized.

"No, no Penny its fine," Ruby said to make Penny feel better and patted Minato on the arm. "We got this, thanks for helping, though. You helped us out," Ruby gave her friend a brave smile.

Penny smiled again and rushed Ruby into a bear hug.

"Ah! Penny!" Ruby screeched. "Crushing. Ribs!"

"Oh!" Penny said, slightly shocked. "My apologies Ruby,"

"It's ok, don't worry about it," Ruby waved off while grabbing her sides.

"Penny," The guard in the red said. "We have to go. The General is waiting,"

Penny sighed. "Right," She turned back to Ruby and Minato and smiled. "I hope I'll see you two during the Vytal festival!"

Penny then walked towards the guards and went into the car. The guards nodded at Minato and Ruby and entered the car as well. It sped off several seconds later, leaving Minato and Ruby in silence.

"So, you knew she was an android?" Ruby asked Minato.

Minato nodded.

"How'd you find out?" Ruby asked.

Minato shrugged. "I guessed,"

"You have some really good guesses then," Ruby said, then looked down. "So what do we do now?"

Minato thought about that for a minute as they walked.

Checking places Blake might have gone to eat or relax was proving fruitless so far. So maybe they should be looking somewhere else.

"That store that got robbed," Minato began. "Didn't you think the White Fang was involved?"

Ruby shook her head. "That was mostly Weiss, but there has been this guy who's been stealing dust. Have you ever heard of Roman Torchwick?"

Minato nodded. The man was a recent crime lord. Cunning, was able to move large amounts of material, and somehow was always able to escape any situation or jail cell he ended up in. He was also a capable fighter who had the abilities of a pseudo hunter. Every time he was brought in was due to the actions of Hunters or Huntresses, the police simply didn't have the resources or ability to catch him.

"I ran into him a few weeks ago; it was actually how I got into Beacon. But, he and his cronies were stealing dust," Ruby frowned. "But my sister told me that since he got the attention of the Hunters, no other crime boss would lend him any men,"

"How does Yang know that?" Minato asked.

"Oh she attacked a bad guy bar, no problem," Ruby waved dismissively.

Minato decided that was a story for another time.

"So if Torchwick needs more dust, then he needs more people to be able to move it," Ruby continued. "But even if he did need that much dust, why would the White Fang help him?"

"Mutual interest?" Minato suggested. "It's possible the Revolutionary faction needs dust more extreme attacks, and he gets a cut from whatever's taken. But we have no definite proof that they are involved at all," Minato pointed out.

"Well Blake might be thinking the same thing as us, but more for the White Fang than Torchwick, so it's worth a shot I guess," Ruby said. "But if that's the case where should we look?"

Minato shrugged. "Are there any dust shops nearby or any that have recently been stored?"

Ruby shrugged as well. "I have no idea; I actually don't think a lot of dust shops are going to keep fully stocked with all of the robberies lately."

That made sense to Minato. But then where would they go.

"Wait! I have an idea," Ruby said getting Minato's attention. "Ok, so Torchwick needs a lot of dust, and the White Fang needs some too right?"

Minato nodded.

"So where does every dust store in the city get their supplies from?" Ruby asked, a smile beginning to form on her face.

The realization hit Minato.

"The docks," he said.

"Exactly!" Ruby said. "And I bet that Blake is thinking the same thing. She'll probably be there!"

Minato nodded and began following Ruby to the docks in hopes of finding Blake.

 _~Break~_

Roman Torchwick was a business man.

Sure he wasn't a _respectable_ one or an _honest_ one either. But he was a businessman nonetheless. So when an incredibly attractive woman who can turn people on fire offers you a simple job, with a decent payoff, and the very high chance of not being burned alive. A business man takes it.

Besides he can't enjoy life if he's dead.

So naturally robbing stores, banks, and information had now been changed to dust and weaponry. They were easier to come by than he thought, sure he had an unlucky run in with that red themed brat, but the little kid was probably in school now, so there was little chance he would run into her again.

The recent hauls of dust had been successful, but like all women that just wasn't enough. No, they needed to get more dust and faster too, so the next step had been obvious.

Take the next big shipment of dust at night. It's simple enough that these animals should understand it, quiet enough, so no police or, Grimm forbid, Huntsman arrive. And should put them ahead of schedule for the next few weeks.

Sometimes he was just too clever. Neo would make a face, but his chromatic companion wasn't here, at least he didn't think she was. You can never tell with those illusionist types.

They were approaching the docks pretty quickly in these airships.

Roman was surprised that the White Fang had access to these types of ships. But he didn't complain, as long as they got the job done then it was fine.

Every person on the planet had their opinion on the White Fang and Faunus in general. Roman didn't care in the least about them.

They were people, little more animal than normal, but people nonetheless. And Faunus, like everyone else, can be exploited and used.

They were a lot more useful than those mooks he used to rent from Junior. These White Fang guys were fanatics. People who believed in whatever ridiculous cause so much that they would die for it. Made em a hell of a lot more useful for jobs in Roman's opinion.

You just don't get that criminal who cares about their job like they used to, Roman sighed.

The airship touched down, and everyone on the ship began pouring out.

"Alright, we aren't the most discreet group of customers at the moment. So hurry up, move your animal hides, and let's get the hell out of here before there's a ruckus," Roman said to the White Fang members.

Some growled, because of course they can, and others just went about doing their job. It was good to get the sensible animals now and then. Sped up the job time.

Now Roman did the most coveted and grueling of jobs given to those in charge of operations such as these.

He had to oversee and make sure no one screwed up.

"You, tiger tail, come here. I need you to get something," Roman motioned over with his cane.

The Faunus growled at him. "My name is Hobbes, human,"

"Don't care. Now look over here," Roman pointed towards the crates the White Fang were currently putting together. "Each airship we have can carry about one of these crates at a time, and with the other four coming in several minutes we can carry a total of 5,"

"And?" Tiger tail asked.

Roman sighed. Somehow he just didn't understand how people could be so stupid.

"The airships can only carry one crate, not because of weight but because they only have one latch at the bottom. These ships can carry three crates at once," Roman pointed towards the shipping yard that was holding other ships and crates together. "So tell me stripes, how can we make three trips into one?"

Tiger tail looked back and forth and shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense," he agreed.

"Of course it does my furry friend," Roman patted the man on the back. "Now go and get us some rope, latches, and anything that can bind these crates together, hup hup!"

Tiger tail ran off leaving Roman to his lonesome once again.

It was going to be a good night. They were going to get most of the dust they needed to fund that army of theirs. Roman would have a decent amount to sell on the black market. And little miss fire eyes wouldn't throw a temper tantrum and roast him alive.

Roman had a good feeling about the night.

Which was thoroughly ruined by the sword across his neck?

"Whoa!" Roman yelled.

"Don't move! All of you!" The girl yelled at him.

Roman couldn't see whoever it was behind him. Such a pain to deal with sometimes. But she had a weapon next to a very important part of his living, so he didn't make any sudden movements.

Just subtle ones with his cane.

The people he brought with him had surrounded the two of them but didn't move. He would have to give points for not doing anything stupid while their, technical, boss was being held, hostage. But took some away because they had allowed the girl behind him to catch him by surprise.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" The girl shouted and threw some thread into the air. "Why are you committing these petty crimes? Why are you working with this criminal?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "It's about common interest sweetheart. They need dust; I need money. It's simple actually,"

"Shut up!" The girl said and brought the sword closer to Romans neck.

"Easy, easy," Roman chided and then smiled, he could hear engines in the background. "How about you put your little sword and hightail it out of here before you get hurt, kid?"

"No," She answered quietly. "I'm ending this little operation and bringing you in. You have a lot to answer for,"

Roman chuckled. "Well on that you're not wrong," He admitted, then looked up. "But I wouldn't exactly call this a _small_ operation,"

The girl looked up giving Roman the distraction he needed. He smiled and fired Melodic Cudgel right at her feet.

A yelp and an explosion later, Roman was freed, and he got a good look at his mystery do-gooder.

She was probably 17 or 18. Cat Faunus is going by the ears. And a pretty face, too bad she was an idiot.

Roman shot at her.

Fire Dust rounds exploded in missed shots. Roman was a good shot, even Neo had some difficulty dodging him, but every time he hit the girl she suddenly turned into two people and left away, leaving behind the copy.

Sometimes Roman wished he knew what his Semblance was. It could be a real pain to deal with someone who had one.

"Leave her alone!" A voice shouted.

When Roman turned to look at the newest annoyance, he received two feet to the face. Neo was going to laugh at the newest bruise on his face after this. Roman turned to look at the foot jerk.

He was tall. Quite muscular too. And had a monkey tail, wonderful another Faunus.

Weren't these animals supposed to be on the same side or something? Roman sighed, nothing could ever be a simple job.

Luckily enough his men surrounded the kid, weapons out.

The kid seemed to realize the situation he was in, and Roman smirked.

"You're not the brightest apple in the bunch are ya kid?" Roman taunted but was interrupted by a battle cry.

This time Roman was prepared and defended himself from the attack.

The cat girl was facing him head on, which was fine his men would back him up once they killed the other kid.

She was good. Swipe after strike attacked Roman. She attacked with the cleaver, which Roman blocked with his cane, but immediately followed with her katana. Keeping up with both of the weapons and the occasional shot from the pistol was getting annoying.

Roman tried to hit her after blocking her katana strike only to hit that clone again. She threw her pistol which was attached to a thread and wrapped itself around his arm.

Roman blocked the next overhead strike. He dragged his cane along her katana and jabbed the brat in the stomach. Then Roman twisted, getting some momentum going, and knocked the annoying girl across the face sending her flying.

Only to see all of his men knocked out and the blond kid coming at him with some nunchucks.

Roman blocked the flying kick and tried to counter but was under constant assault.

Every time the kid swung his nunchucks, the gun at the end would fire. Causing Roman to not only block the weapon but the bullet the literal second after.

Luckily Roman had been taught to be a defensive fighter. He needed to pick Neo up some coffee next run.

30 perfectly timed blocks later the kid was out of bullets, giving Roman the chance to point his gun at the monkey's face.

Unfortunately, the kid wrapped his nunchuck around the cane and pulled it away before Roman could fire. And received a kick in the chest, and if that wasn't enough, the girl wrapped her thread pistol around his chest and brought him back in for another kick to the chest.

Roman was getting short of breath. He was good, not as good as fully trained Huntsman, but he could beat some kids. These two, however, were running him ragged very quickly; he needed those reinforcements and bad.

Roman's prayers were answered by the hail of gunfire from above. Roman knew that at this point the entire city had been woken up, so they needed to get those five crates on those airships and leave.

But first. Roman took aim at the girl hiding behind the crate. At least one less annoyance to deal with in the future.

Roman clicked his cane, only for it to veer off to the right and hit the crate to the side. Roman looked up and cursed hit rotten luck.

Little red had come back. She had shot at his cane from an office building roof. She turned, probably motioning to someone behind her. Which, Roman took the perfect time to shoot the annoying brat.

Another figure on the roof moved in front of Red just before Roman's fire round hit the girl.

Now Roman had seen many things in his life.

He's seen a girl as high as his waist massacre an entire prison floor. He had seen men desperate for money butcher and kill for even the tiniest scrap. Roman had even seen a woman turn into ice, shatter said ice, and leave a completely different person inside as if it was magic.

Roman, however, had never seen a bullet bounce back after it hit someone.

Roman was so surprised that he didn't even realize that the fire round was coming at him. Roman felt the heat first, then the explosive impact hit his body and threw him into a nearby container.

Roman was getting knocked around too much for his liking tonight.

The repeated chatter of the machine guns above head brought Roman out of his daze. He looked around and saw several more White Fang members keeping the monkey and cat busy. But Red and her new friend jumped down, and Roman was able to get a good look at the extra annoyance.

He was taller than Red. He looked relaxed, despite the situation. And besides the black and white striped shirt, he was wearing a blue jacket and jeans. Also, he had blue hairs and eyes.

Roman sighed. "Great, just great. This is just wonderful. We've got red and blue here," Roman said pointing towards the two kids. "Tell me when's purple coming?"

Blue turned to Red and turned his head. She shrugged, brought out that stupidly annoying sniper scythe and charged at the other White Fang members.

Red knocked out about three of his goons when the ships began firing at her. The kid turned into a red-blue, and there were some rose petals for some reason and used her rifle to zip away from the planes and find cover.

Blue, on the other hand, had rushed Roman.

The kid had a katana and a weird looking pistol. Old school, but effective, and Roman blocked the first strike. His hits landed a bit heavier than the other brats; the kid must be stronger than he looks. Roman deflected the sword and went to hit the kid across the face, but with his free hand Blue knocked his punch aside and elbowed Roman in the face with his sword hand.

Roman cursed and grabbed his nose. He needed to get out of here. Before Blue could continue, Roman shot at the ground, blocking Blue's field of vision, and rushed over to the airship they arrived in.

Roman was at least somewhat relieved that the one airship had a large crate of dust. Butter one than none. He turned and saw the airships focus their fire at Blue. He dodged and deflected some bullets, but was struggling to find cover.

Roman started the airship and smiled. At least one color coded brat wouldn't be a problem anymore.

He turned to keep an eye on the intruders to the nightly operation and saw something truly surprising.

Blue put his gun to his head. Roman had seen people kill themselves before, particularly when Neo was having one of her episodes. But it happens, rather die by yourself than by some monster or a particularly unpleasant individual.

But those had always been adults; Roman had never seen a kid commit suicide. So his morbid fascination was what led him to continue watching.

Blue said something, and there was a flash of light.

Now Roman wasn't a man of faith. There haven't really been any major groups of faith in Remnant for the last several decades as far as he knew. There were cults here and there sure, but religion has never been a big thing to people. When there are monsters running around its hard to believe in something bigger. So Roman never gave the idea of faith any thought, it just didn't matter.

But Roman knew some things about religion. There was usually a god or goddess, an afterlife. And of course messengers or angels.

So when Blue pulled the trigger, he had expected blood, shock, and maybe a cry from Red.

He hadn't expected an _angel_.

Now, this wasn't a normal angel. This wasn't a kind-faced being with feathery wings and a horn. Or one of those baby angels, cherubs or something, this was something terrifying.

The angel was made entirely of metal. Its face was stern and pitiless and was dressed in a robe. Even the wings were metal. The angel was also about ten ft tall and imposing as hell. There was even a light radiating from its form.

Roman couldn't even move. His brain was trying to tell him that this wasn't real and that angels didn't exist, but his eyes were firmly disagreeing. The entire dock was silent besides the slight humming from the angel.

The angel turned its head towards the airships and Roman remembered where everyone was. The pilots recovered pretty well and shot at the metal angel. The bullets either bounced off or barely made a dent in the thing. One of the ships fired a fire enhanced missile at the thing and, just like when Roman shot at the kid, it bounced off.

The angel flapped its metal wings, which Roman considered more blades than wings, and soared towards the ships. It grabbed the first ship by the left wing. The ship tried to struggle while the other continued to pelt it with bullets, but neither was doing any good. The angel then grabbed the ship's other wing and proceeded to rip the entire thing in half.

The dock was filled with the screech of metal and screaming men that Roman had to cover his ears. Two large pieces of metal fell to the ground along with the White Fang goons with it, and the angel turned to the other ship.

The ship turned around and ran, something Roman could agree with. He and started his airship and sped away in the opposite direction, he would come full circle to the rendezvous point, but he had to get the hell away from that thing before his ship became scarp metal with him in it.

Fortunately for Roman, the angel decided to go after the other ship. Roman saw the angel grab the ship by the tail and throw it down on the ground. It left a large track on the ground, and one of the engines began igniting on fire. The White Fang group got out, only for the angel to slam onto the ship and flattened it.

It hadn't seen Roman, and just as fast as it had appeared, the angel began to disappear slowly.

Roman sighed. "This is freaking nuts!"

Hopefully his flame themed boss wouldn't blame him for the sudden divine intervention.

 _~Break~_

Minato hadn't summoned Metatron in ages, and he felt it. The voice of God was an immense figure of power. Even among the other paragons of Personas, he stood out at the top. However, Metatron wasn't particularly suited for long battles. He was an overwhelming force with defenses against several attacks. His specialty, however, was with light and the power of the almighty.

Both were spells used to either destroy the forces of darkness or utterly annihilate the enemy before you.

Minato wanted to stop and apprehend the criminals, not kill them.

Also under while pressure, Metatron was already in the forefront of his mind.

Minato was still feeling the aftereffects. He was tired, summoning a creature of that much power has a toll, not a dangerous one, but large enough. He was also invigorated. Metatron was a leader, or _the leader_ , among angels. When summoned he gives a strength of not only physical but also spiritual to his allies.

Minato felt like he could run against the wind. The battle against any enemy. That he had seen so much and felt inspired to see and learn more. That power and strength had chosen him to move forward.

Minato had missed that feeling.

Someone whistled, and Minato turned to see the blonde haired boy he saw yesterday with Blake. Both of them looked shocked, which Minato understood, but different.

Blake looked like she was trying to decide between scared or impressed. The boy on the other hadn't just settled with awe.

"Gotta admits, I was not expecting this tonight," He turned to Blake with an eyebrow rising. "You didn't tell me you guys had angels here,"

Blake shook her head. "I didn't know," she whispered.

Minato looked around and saw that most of the White Fang members were knocked out. Some were just groaning in pain, but they couldn't move. The police should arrive shortly to pick them up, so Minato decided to stay where he was and explain what happened.

"Minato!" Ruby yelled as the young leader rushed towards him with incredible speed.

Ruby grabbed her head and was trying to decide what she should say. Or what she should say first. Minato waited and allowed Ruby to calm herself.

"That was an angel!" Ruby said.

"Yes," Minato answered.

"You never told us you could summon angels!" Ruby shouted. Then paused and looked confused. "Wait… does this mean there are gods and stuff?"

Minato shrugged and left it at that. He hadn't found much-detailing religion in Remnant, but he would rather not make any assumptions.

"Well, that doesn't matter," Ruby waved her hand. "But that was so cool! It just appeared and knocked those two ships out of the air!" Ruby frowned when she saw Minato find a small box and sit down. "Are you ok?"

Minato nodded. "I haven't summoned Metatron in some time. I'm a little rusty,"

"That's the angel's name?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded.

"That's such a cool name," She whispered.

"This is your leader?" The boy asked as he walked over with Blake. "Isn't she a little young?"

Ruby turned to see them, and her eyes lit up.

"Blake!" Ruby rushed forward in a gust of speed and tackled Blake in a hug. "You're ok!"

"Oh… hey Ruby," Blake said hesitantly. She looked away from Ruby, shame filling her voice. "I'm… sorry for running away,"

Minato finally noticed her cat ears. They dropped when she talked like she was sad. It was quite interesting to notice, but Minato looked at Blake and tried to see all of what she was.

This was a woman who had been involved in an extreme activist group. Who had left because she disagreed with their methods? Then joined a huntsman academy to, probably, better herself and made an impact on the world.

Minato wondered if seeing her as something other than human would affect his opinion of her. But his opinion of the girl had stayed the same, even risen due to recent revelations and events.

"Don't worry about it," Ruby said detaching herself from Blake. "We were just worried you got in trouble and… well," Ruby looked around the dock and noticed the fires, metal heaps of trash, and dozens of fallen bodies. "We had a feeling something was about to happen,"

"How did you even find us?" Blake asked.

"Name's Sun by the way," Sun interjected and put himself in front of Ruby and Blake offering his hand. "Sun Wukong,"

Minato ignored the fact that the boy, who happened to be a monkey Faunus, and who fought with a large staff had the same name as one of the most well-known mythological figures in Chinese mythology and chose to believe it as coincidence.

Ruby waved hello to Sun and Blake pushed him out of the way after a grunt of annoyance.

"Well, Minato came to help us look for you," Ruby pointed to Minato. He nodded to Blake. "And we just started brainstorming you know? I knew that Roman Torchwick has been stealing dust, and… well," Ruby looked off to the side sounding uncomfortable.

"We… Guessed that you used to be part of the White Fang," Ruby pointed to the top of her head.

Blake grabbed her arm defensively. "Oh,"

"Yeah," Ruby drawled. "We figured you were part of the White Fang and you were with the Revolutionary group, and you wanted to prove the White Fang wasn't stealing dust, and if they were you would want to stop them,"

Blake nodded, her eyes growing a little wider.

"So we were trying to figure out where they might hit next, and then I thought about where all the dust comes from, and all the big shipments would be at the docks. So we got lunch, Minato found a cool noodle shop and some weird stuff happened there. Then we staked out here until we saw you,"

"Dang, that's impressive," Sun said giving Ruby an impressed nod. "I mean we knew there was going to be a robbery here, you guys just guessed. "You have some smart friends Blake,"

Ruby blushed from the compliment. "Ah, well, y'know,"

"Ruby," Blake said softly. "I'm sorry… again,"

Ruby looked confused. "For what?"

"For lying to you," Blake gripped her retrieved bow in her hands and squeezed. "I've known you all for weeks now… but I was too afraid to tell you who I am, what I am,"

"Blake," Ruby said softly.

"It's just," Blake looked like she was struggling to find what to say. "You know how Faunus are treated, don't you? I left the White Fang to make a difference because I saw what they were becoming. But when I got here I decided to hide who I was. My entire life here, every single day has been tainted by a lie!"

Blake looked close to tears. "Why aren't you angry at me!?"

"Why should I be angry" Ruby responded. Her voice was soft and comforting; it was a voice he recognized but had never heard from the girl. "So what if you're a Faunus?"

Blake looked shocked as well. "What,"

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, I was a little surprised when we found out. But that doesn't change anything," Ruby's eyes became filled with light and. "You're still Blake. Faunus, human, it doesn't matter. I mean sure you were part of the White Fang, but you left didn't you? And yeah it would have been cool to know that one of my new friends was a Faunus, but I know now,"

Blake sighed. "You're way too forgiving for a kid,"

"Hey, Blake?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah?" Blake said.

"Remember our first conversation?"

Blake nodded. "You said you wanted to be a Huntress to help people,"

Ruby nodded. "And remember what I said after that?"

Blake thought about it and answered.

"When I told you that the world wasn't the same as a fairy tale, you told me that's why all of us were at Beacon. To make it better,"

Ruby nodded and extended her hand. "Then stop mopping and let's make the world a better place! Together."

Blake chuckled, wiped her eyes, and shook Ruby's hand.

"Ha!" Sun said and elbowed Blake, "I told you, you were overreacting, Blake," Sun pointed a thumb at Ruby and Minato. "These guys seem great; you don't have anything to worry about with them.

Sun walked over to Ruby.

"By the way, that was an awesome entrance with you guys. Saved out buts there,"

"Well I just saw you guys in trouble, and Roman was about to shoot Blake. So I just…" Ruby pulled out her Crescent Rose and imitated shooting.

"And that weapon!" Sun suddenly shouted in excitement. "What was that? Like a scythe and a sniper rifle!" Sun gasped. "A scythle!"

"I know right!" Ruby cheered with him. She extended Crescent Rose to its full extent and showed it to Sun. "This is Crescent Rose! She is my baby!"

"I've never seen a weapon like this," Run gaped as he looked at Crescent Rose. "Like, I've been around, and I've never seen anyone use a scythe. It's like a spinning windmill of awesome!"

"What about your weapons!" Ruby shouted looking at Sun's nun-chucks. "They're nun-chuck, staff, shotguns! How did you even think up of that?!"

"Oh, these two?" Sun pulled out his weapons. "This is Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. My aunt and uncle are weapon smiths, and they made this for me on my 14th birthday. I named it after them to honor them y'know,"

"Aww, that's so sweet," Ruby said while staring at Suns weapons.

"By the way. Crescent Rose looks so complex how do you even clean it?" Sun asked.

"Well…" Ruby began explaining to Sun about her weapon.

The two continued to talk about weapons. Minato watched in fascination on how two relative strangers could begin to form a bond over weapons. But Minato understood Ruby had a magnetic personality and a general kindness that was rare among people.

Minato continued to relax until his noticed Blake walking towards him.

She stopped before him and looked at him inquisitively, then turned to the wreckage.

"You've been holding out on us," Blake remarked.

Minato didn't disagree. It was hard to when the other person was right.

"When were you going to tell us you could summon angels?" Blake asked.

Minato shrugged. "I don't make it a habit of summoning them, but it would have happened eventually,"

"I need to apologize to you too," Blake said. "For getting you dragged into this,"

Minato shrugged. "Things happen, besides," Minato gave her the barest smirk he could manage, "I am technically part of your team, I couldn't just ignore this could I?"

Blake snorted. "I guess so," She turned to look at Ruby and Sun who were comparing weapons.

Silence reigned for the moment, and Minato debated on whether to talk to Blake or not. He had learned several things about Blake on the last day. From her actions and choices, Minato was able to make certain guesses. She was someone who believed in responsibility. She acted on what she believed was right and defended the actions of others because of empathy through what they have gone through.

But she was also a woman plagued by guilt. Minato had seen it before. People who were so consumed with the actions of the past that they could barely move past it. Who took the blame and never let go. People who would run away from others, telling themselves it was for the best, or that everyone would be safer when it just meant they were running away.

It was because of that thinking that Shinjiro died. And the aftermath of his death had almost torn SEES apart. It had almost torn Minato apart.

He chose to speak

"When I was with my old team. Do you know what the worst thing I did was?" Minato asked Blake. She said nothing, but Minato had her attention. "A mistake happened, we lost someone. And while everyone had their ways of dealing with the loss, I took the worse route,"

Blake frowned. "You went after the person that killed your friend?" She guessed.

Minato shook his head. "No. At least not then anyway. No, I withdrew from everyone,"

Blake looked confused, and Minato elaborated.

"I had never lost someone before," Minato explained. "The pain was something I didn't understand, and I didn't know how to stop it from hurting. So I came to the conclusion that I needed to distance myself away from everyone. That way if they died, then it wouldn't hurt, I ran away from everyone, and that started to hurt more than the death ever did,"

Minato stared directly into Blake's eyes. Hoping, pleading that his message would reach the young woman.

"I think I understand, but," Blake whispered. "Why are you telling me this?"

Minato looked to Ruby. "You have a good leader and some good friends. Don't run away from them when they can help,"

Blake turned to Ruby and Sun and said nothing.

The Police and newsgroups appeared in several minutes. After explaining to the police and reporters what had happened, and several people from around the docks came by showing videos of a giant metal figure and firing airships, the entire situation started to calm down.

Ruby was conducting an interview telling the reporters how Roman Torchwick had led the crime and that the White Fang were helping him, she tried to explain the factions, but they tuned her out after she said, White Fang.

Blake had put her bow back on and was sitting near Sun who had gotten an apple from somewhere.

Minato had been filling in his report to the police when he saw Yang and Weiss walk up. Weiss immediately walked over to Blake and began speaking. Minato kept his attention to the officer as to allow them some level of privacy.

When Minato finished his report, he turned and saw smiling faces and a cheering Ruby.

Sun went his way after they left the docks and Team RWBY plus Minato went back to Beacon. Ruby had told Yang and Weiss about his angel which led to questions and excitement for the future. But Minato only said they would have to wait.

His Persona was still new to the world. And now a recently escaped crime lord and fanatics knew about it. But that was alright. He was surprised how comfortable he felt with this group. That he had made bonds so quickly with the individuals, he met over the last few weeks.

It was time to say goodbye to the apprehension and move forward.

 _~Break~_

"An angel?"

Roman sighed as he had to relive the painful, and recent, memory.

"Yes an angel," Roman answered. "Granted it was made of metal and ten feet tall, but an angel,"

"That's," Cinder fall tapped her chin, "Interesting,"

Roman rubbed his head on annoyance. His new "boss" was aggravating to deal with. She was the one who wanted him to work with the White Fang, but that had gained him the unwanted attention of the night and turned everything to hell.

"You can't be serious?" Emerald said, giving Roman a mocking glance, "He's obviously making this up,"

Emerald was a young woman with brown skin, red eyes, and mint green hair. She wore an outfit that exposed a lot of skin, not that Roman was complaining mind you, and had these sickle guns to her side.

"Oh of course I am," Roman replied sarcastically, "I completely failed to bring a large shipment of dust in and my first excuse to give was that an angel appeared out of nowhere and stopped us. Listen, kid; I've been in this game since you were learning how to steal scraps from under the table. So when an accomplished liar and thief tells you with an annoyed voice and expression why he lost all of his goons and only has one crate, and he says it's an angel, he means it's a freaking angel!"

Emerald gave him a frown, and Roman could honestly care less what the little illusionist thought.

Mercury whistled. "Easy there Roman," Mercury picked up a dust vial. "It's not our fault you can't come up with a better way to say you lost to a kid twice in a row,"

Mercury is a well-built man with gray eyes, and clothing to match. The kid had prosthetic legs, and unlike Emerald who could act like she was decent, Mercury was unpleasant all the time.

Roman really, really, _really¸_ wanted to kill those two. Neo was still on the job with that Taurus nutjob, keeping an eye on him mostly, so even if Roman was given a chance, he couldn't do it.

The two were better fighters than he was. No shame in admitting that, Roman knew he was never the strongest kid on the block, but the cleverest, the smartest, the best dressed? Well that was something else. So, at least for now, they lived.

Though this was mostly due to their mutual boss.

Cinder Fall is beautiful. Her red dress, long legs, eyes like fire, and a voice that would make any man or woman melt. She was the person who would kill you and make it hot. But she was also an annoyance, a threatening pain, and the main reason he was preparing for a freaking war.

She could control fire and use magic. And she scared Neo. That was enough incentive to go along with her. Roman didn't like it, but survival had its price, it was the way of the world.

Cinder waved her hand, and her two lackeys shut their mouths.

"This angel, where did it come from?" Cinder asked. "I'm assuming it didn't just appear from the sky?"

Roman shook his head.

"No, and here's where it gets insane. This kid shoots himself in the head and suddenly a flash of light, then there's an angel tearing everything apart," Roman explained.

"So it was summoned?" Cinder asked.

Roman shrugged. "No clue beautiful. All I know is that I'm staying the hell away from that kid. Little Red and her Faunus friends I can handle. Suicide summoning kids, I think I'll pass,"

Cinder sighed. "I don't think you are lying to me Roman,"

Her eyes flashed, and the room became hotter. "You know the price for that, I assume?"

Roman shook his head in agreement. "Trust me; even _I_ couldn't make this up,"

"I see," Cinder said, and the room cooled again.

Roman hated when she did that. What if she accidently caught his suit on fire, despite what people may think, clothing is expensive. Especially a masterpiece such as his suit.

"There is a new piece on the board," Cinder said and turned to Mercury and Emerald. "We will need to make… preparations,"

"So you actually believe him?" Mercury asked. Cinder rose and gave him a hard stare. Roan had to have it too the kid, he never seemed to much afraid of Cinder, but he knew when to back down.

"I believe," Cinder said while walking towards Mercury and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "That one mistake, one miscalculation, _one overlook_ , and everything we have worked for could be undone. That is the enemy we face here,"

Her eyes began to glow again, and she stared hard at Mercury. "Do you understand?"

Mercury paused for a second. Gathered himself and nodded in agreement.

"Yes ma'am, sorry,"

"Good boy," She patted Mercury on the face and gave him a small smile. She turned to Emerald. "Emerald,"

"Yes, ma'am?" Emerald answered.

"Contact Adam, tell him I need to speak with him when he is available next," Then she turned to Roman. "Roman there are several shipments coming from Atlas, you will take one when it comes so be prepared for that,"

"And can I ask what said the package is, my dear?" Roman asked.

Cinder smirked at Roman.

"I'll let that be a surprise,"

 _~Break~_

It had come across a caravan.

They had run away from It, but had not attacked. It could understand that. It had frightened the ones that new it before; it was only natural that It feared all.

Then more of the monsters attacked.

The monsters were attracted to the darker emotions. Like the pieces of _Her_. It could feel the despair, the fear, the grief.

They believed they were going to die.

They would not.

It killed the creatures. One was in the form of an ape, another a great lizard, and another in the form of a mammoth.

The ape and the lizard were easy. They fell like all the other monsters. But the Mammoth did not fall easily.

The mammoth was strong.

The mammoth had almost managed to hurt It. In Its lust for battle, it had almost lost itself. But It did not worry. After another failed attempt to skewer It, It struck the legs and crippled the creature. Then It shredded the mammoth until there was nothing left.

After all had died, It turned back to the caravan. The humans were staring in horror and fascination. It did not blame them; a monster had saved them from other monsters. They were confused; it would not blame them.

A child was with them. It walked forward, despite the warning of her parents and stood several feet away from It.

She bowed her head in thanks. It was confused, it had never been thanked… except by him. It didn't know how to respond.

"Thank you for saving my mama and papa!" The girl said and gave the creature an innocent smile. The parents were screaming, rushing, crying, but the others wouldn't let them move.

It said nothing to the girl. It inclined its head and moved forward. The humans of the caravan stared at It in fascination. Relief, confusion, and happiness now radiated from them.

He would have wanted to save them, It told itself. He was always kind to others, he always helped. It needed to get back to Him. It would tell Him this story.

He would smile. It wanted to see that smile again.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

 **Sorry for the long wait, expect the chapter to be about this long or longer from now on for any story. Blame video games and school for late times.**

 **Volume one is done!**

 ***Important***

 **SO this is going to be a major AU crossover now. Some of my ideas and outlines are going to differ from established storylines. Some characters will be stronger than their canon counterparts. I've already decided the identity and being of some characters, Spring Maiden for one. And I'm adding my personal lore and additions to the mix. Expect some OC's and other stuff along the way.**

 **Volume 4 was kick ass, I love Oscar, and I can't wait for the future. Hope you guys like the new chapter.**


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